Redemption
by electricmind
Summary: 'Redemption: the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil' Where can Oliver find it? The path is long and things get complicated when Oliver finds out he knows someone from Felicity's past. How will they deal with this discovery, their confusing feelings for each other and Slade Wilson?
1. Chapter 1: Mercy

**A/N.: Arrow is my new obsession and so is Olicity (pff, if you don't ship it, you're just wrong). This was meant to be an Olicity story, but, as I started writing it, it became a huge angst feast. Turns out Oliver Queen and angst are attached at the hip. This is gonna be a two-shot, three-shot, maybe, and I still have plans to include Olicity feels (can't live without them). It's my third fic and my first multi-chapter, so I'm shaking here.**

**Sorry that this is kind of depressing and it has no action and it's kind of a long string of thoughts (wow, I'm just realizing how much boring it all sounds and I'm so sorry). In my defence, Oliver probably spends a lot of time brooding, so consider this his thoughts when he's staring at empty space, lol.**

**Disclaimer: The fact that I don't own Olicity makes me cry at night.**

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><p><em>Mercy: compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.<em>

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><p>Oliver had never given much thought about 'mercy' before the island. He came to terms with the fact that he had been a shallow asshole before the shipwreck and that he had only known about small mercies during his old life. The mercy of waking up hangover free on a clear sunny day after a night of partying with Tommy, for example; or the mercy of escaping his parents' wrath when they were too busy to tell him what a screw-up he was; or the mercy of being in Laurel's good graces again after breaking up for the fourth, maybe fifth, time; he only knew about those kinds of mercies.<p>

During his time at Lian Yu, whichever flimsy concepts of mercy that he knew had crumbled to dust. At first, he had hoped God would be merciful towards him and would send someone, anyone, to get him out of there. Oliver had never given much thought about God before either, though he found that he couldn't help but believe in God when his life was hanging by a thread. So he held onto that belief for as long as he could, which was not that long.

He had soon learned that the people on that island would only hold him at their mercy and that they didn't know anything about compassion. In that place, there was no space for mercy. Yao Fei had shown him mercy and died to give him a chance to live. Showing any form of it would only get you killed. Oliver soon concluded that he didn't believe in God, much less a merciful one. He couldn't afford to believe in God and, even if there was one, he doubted he'd find redemption anywhere in Lian Yu. He could only trust himself, his skills, and that meant showing no signs of mercy. Kill or be killed, those were the rules.

After leaving the island, he ended up realizing that the real world was a different kind of jungle, but a jungle nonetheless, and his rules remained. The only difference was that now Oliver could afford to show his enemies a small amount of mercy, the kind that was never shown to him. Yes, he did vowed to fulfill his father's dying wishes by riding the city of its hidden criminals, the most dangerous ones, the ones who hid in plain sight; but he also vowed to give them one chance to change before he killed them, and Oliver called that mercy. One chance, that's all his enemies had. It was more than what was given to him and it was enough to appease Diggle's and Felicity's minds.

He knew Diggle understood why those were the rules. Despite being one of the most honorable men Oliver had ever known, John Diggle was still a soldier and he knew war. Although Dig understood, he didn't agree with the ever rising death count, and Oliver couldn't blame him; the man had seen enough of killing for a lifetime.

Felicity also understood, but she had never been through war. She had never felt the burden of taking a life to save her own, had never felt the desperation of it on her skin, and Oliver hoped she never would; he would make sure she never experienced that feeling. Yes, Felicity was more than smart enough to understand the concept, but she didn't know the feeling, and she didn't agree with merciless killing. In fact, she made sure Oliver knew how much she disagreed with it, though she never made him feel like a monster for doing it; she did understand why those were the rules, after all.

The fact that they backed him up in spite of what he had done, of what he did on a daily basis, was enough to help Oliver rationalize that he knew what mercy was, so he never thought that his concept of it would change.

Then, Tommy had died. His best friend, one of the few people he truly loved, had died. He was sorry that it took another tragedy to make him see things clearer, to help him see that he was doing this all wrong and that this was not the person he wanted to be. He was determined to do things differently and diminishing the body count was a step in the direction he wanted to go. He owed it to Tommy's memory to make things right.

Now, Oliver had new rules. No more killing, unless there was no other choice. He could tell that Diggle and Felicity had been proud of his decision and their approval showed him that it was, indeed, the right one. He had finally learned how to be merciful. It took him time, but he realized the importance of it. He knew now that he would never be at peace with himself and with his mission if he didn't leave the island behind.

Oliver would never forget what Lian Yu taught him; it had changed him completely and that couldn't be undone, but he couldn't be the killing machine he once was either. Tommy's death was the deepest thing he felt since returning from the island. He hadn't only lost people he cared about on the island; he had also lost a part of his soul. He taught himself to shut down everything but his skills and spending so much time numb made him think he was already immune to the kind of pain the loss of a loved one brought, but he was wrong.

Coming back had reminded him that there were still people he loved and wanted to protect, and that these people loved him. He kept his distance, because he didn't think he deserved their love anymore. He knew they wouldn't feel the same if they ever found out about the Arrow. Tommy's reaction to knowing the truth only proved him right. His best friend thought he was a murderer and that more than anything made him realize how much he craved mercy for himself.

On his dying moments, Tommy had apologized. Tommy had forgiven him, even though Oliver had never earned it. Then and there, he vowed to spend the rest of his life trying to earn it, trying to find mercy for himself.

Oliver needed to find redemption.

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><p><strong>AN.: Review and, please, don't be mean! The definition of the words 'redemption' and 'mercy' were taken from oxforddictionaries dot com. Oh, and I'm sorry for any grammar errors, english is not my first language.**


	2. Chapter 2: Guilt

**A/N.: Hi! I'm so happy about the reviews and favorites and follows! Thank you so much, guys! Sometimes I stop and think "I wrote something and people read it and some of them liked it and others liked it enough to tell me that they liked it, how cool is that?". Sorry, I'm just so excited! I'm excited like I know what I'm doing, which I don't, lol. **

**Anyway, this chapter was supposed to have Olicity feels, but it doesn't, though Felicity is in it (YES!). It has Sara feels, 'cause Sara Lance is amazing (don't argue with me, son!). Btw, I'd started writing this before last night's episode, so I****_ totally_**** called the whole apology scene, lol, though not the****_ I had I crush on you _****_first_**** part, I didn't call that at all. **

**So, I'm trying to follow the second season timeline a little, though not every episode will be featured. This takes place between episodes 4 and 5 of the second season, which means it's before she told them about the League of Assassins and told her dad she was alive.**

**Oh, keep in mind that when I say that Oliver and Sara "smiled", it's not the cherise cat smile, okay? It's the Oliver and Sara trademark smile. You guys watch the show, so you know what I mean, right? I just didn't want to write "he/she curved his/her lips upward a little tiny bit in an almost smile" over and over again, lol.**

**Sorry again for any mistakes and I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and it makes me sad.**

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><p><em>Guilt:<em>_ a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation._

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><p>Sara was alive. Oliver could hardly believe it, but it was true. When he saw her again, it felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, one of the many he had to carry. The guilt he carried because of her death, or of what he thought had been her death, also left him and it happened so unexpectedly that, for a moment, he felt breathless with relief.<p>

It was a good feeling, until he looked her in the eyes closely. He knew what hid behind them; he saw it reflected back to him whenever he looked in the mirror. Then, the guilt came back to hit him like a freight train. She was like him now, a twisted image of the person she had once been. Oliver was deeply ashamed to admit to himself that he thought, even if only for a fleeting second, that death would've been a kinder ending; to both of them.

They were at the foundry now, training together in the matted floor. Felicity was sitting in her chair, doing some system analysis that Oliver couldn't even begin to understand, but he could see that she glanced in their direction once in a while. Diggle was also nearby, doing inventory of their supplies and, sometimes, pausing long enough to tell him and Sara which moves they were doing wrong.

Sara had suggested that they trained together, inspired by some joke Felicity had made earlier about who would win in a superhero fight between The Black Canary and The Arrow. In reality, Oliver noticed that Sara wanted to avoid the hard questions for now. He knew from personal experience how that felt like; he was letting it slide. So, they trained.

She was astonishing with her staff; the weapon suited her. Being quick and lithe, but also surprisingly strong, Sara wielded the staff with extraordinary ease. Oliver was loath to admit that it was taking a lot of concentration on his part to fight her; one wrong move and he'd find himself on the ground every time. She was also incredible with a bow, but not better than him. He'd never say it out loud, but he knew he had better accuracy than her with a bow and arrow.

They had been going at it for almost three hours when she decided to stop.

"Okay, I'll give you a break now, Ollie." Sara said while she walked to Felicity's desk, where they had left a couple of water bottles.

"Come on, you're just doing that because I'm starting to win." he said, catching the bottle she threw and taking big gulps from it.

"No, I'm doing it to spare your fragile male ego. You've been through a lot, Ollie, not sure you could handle being squashed like a bug by someone half your weight." she said with a small smile.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Felicity mouthing 'ouch' to Diggle, who turned his back to them in an attempt to hide his smile; but Oliver decided to ignore it.

"You know, back in the day, you used to inflate my ego, not deflate it. That girl was lot nicer" he tried to joke, but quickly realized his mistake when her smile vanished and her shoulders slumped. "Sara, I didn't-"

"I know you didn't, Ollie." she said, staring at her water bottle.

Oliver was going to apologize when Diggle approached them.

"You can't really tell, but that was Oliver trying to make a joke." Diggle said in and amused tone to Sara, who looked up, the corners of her mouth quirking up.

"That's right." Felicity quipped in "The first time he tried it was the weirdest thing, I mean, we were so shocked that we didn't even laugh." She glanced quickly at Oliver and, seeing his raised eyebrows, rambled on "_Not_ that it wasn't funny, it was funny. Well, not that funny, but funny in a way that you wouldn't expect from Oliver, because he doesn't seem to have a sense of humor and…" Felicity trailed off and took a deep breath, blushing hard at the other's amused expressions "I'll just… stop talking." she finished and turned her attention back to the computer screens.

Diggle turned to Sara. "You'll get used to it if you stick around."

Oliver wasn't sure if the man was talking about his lack of sense of humor or Felicity's cute rambles.

"Do you plan to?" Dig asked curiously.

_And there it is_. Oliver thought. He knew Dig wanted him to talk to Sara, he thought that she needed it and that it would be good for her. Oliver also wanted to know the answer to that question, but he didn't want to make Sara feel backed into a corner, so he had been waiting for her to share her plans when she felt ready.

He glared at Diggle, silently telling him to back off and was answered with a you-know-I'm-right kind of stare from the man. Dig was never one to beat around the bush.

"That is yet to be determined." Sara answered curtly, putting an end to the men's silent conversation.

"Well, we must feed you while you're still here, so I'll go get some food for us. How does everyone feel about Italian?" Dig asked, effectively breaking the ice, and was answered with nods and mumbles of approval. "All right. Then, let's go, Felicity."

"Oh, no, you go ahead. I have to keep an eye on this, if there are any bugs in my system, I wanna be ready to crush those little bast-" She stopped abruptly when she noticed Diggle staring at her. He threw a quick glance at Oliver and Sara, who were still carrying on a conversation, then looked back at Felicity and indicated the door with a small shake of his head. She caught on his meaning and spoke louder while she gathered her purse and tablet. "On second thought, my hunger is bigger than my vengeful feelings towards bugs right now. So, yes, let's go."

Oliver watched as Felicity and Diggle left, not missing the look Dig gave him that clearly said _talk to her_. Meanwhile, Sara had walked towards a wall and sat down on the floor, pulling her knees up and pressing her back against the harsh concrete.

"Okay, let's get this over with." Sara said, sighing heavily.

Oliver followed her and took a seat beside her, pulling one knee up and resting his arm on it. He didn't have to ask what she was talking about: she was ready for the hard questions now. Faced with the opportunity, Oliver didn't know what to ask. He decided to begin with the first question the one Diggle wanted to know. "Are you staying? Are you planning to tell your family that you're alive?"

"I can't stay, Ollie. My family can't know I'm alive, I've told you that. It's too dangerous." She said patiently, Oliver waited in silence for her to continue "You know, I didn't plan to stay this long. I was just supposed to make sure they were safe after the earthquake, but… Seeing my family… my dad, Laurel… It was like a drug, I kept coming back for more. Part of me hoped they would just see me or…" she shook her head "I don't know what I expected, I just couldn't stay away." she cleared her throat "So, to answer your question, no. I'm not planning on staying."

"Why is it so dangerous for them? Where have you been all this time, Sara? And don't say 'everywhere'" Oliver pressed.

"I've been busy. I had a debt to pay and I've just finished paying it." she answered intensely.

"What kind of debt?" He asked worriedly.

"One that had to be paid in blood." She said lowly, staring at her hands "I can't tell you everything right now, Ollie, I'm not… Just, not right now, okay?"

Oliver covered her hands with his, making her finally look at him.

"Whatever it is, Sara, you can tell me. You know I wouldn't judge you, I couldn't." he assured her, squeezing her hands.

"Oh, but you would. I've done things that are far worse than you've ever dreamed." She said, getting up and turning her back to him. Oliver could hear in her voice how close to tears she was. He got up and stood behind her, not sure if he should try to comfort her.

"You're afraid to become a murderer, Ollie… _Me_? I'm already _there_. I'm way past that. And the consequences of what I've done can catch up to me at any moment." Sara turned to look at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears, but her voice was firm "When that happens, I can't let my family be caught in the cross-fire. I'll _never_ let that happen. And don't say you can help me, Ollie, because you really can't."

They were both silent for a few moments, and Sara turned her back to him again. Oliver couldn't begin to imagine what she'd been through; he just knew she carried a lot of guilt. More guilt than any human being should have to carry alone. That thought only made his own guilt flare up, because, in the end, the fault was his entirely. If he hadn't been so stupid, if he hadn't brought her to the Queen's Gambit, none of the horrible things that happened to her would've happened.

"I'm sorry, Sara. I'm so sorry." He said sincerely. "It's all my-"

"Don't you dare, Oliver Queen. Don't you dare say that it's all your fault." She said fiercely, turning to face him again "I went into that trip with you willingly. I was more than willing, you and I both know that. I made that choice; I've told you that before." she reminded him "And what happened after I left the island, what I became… it was my choice too. I could've chosen death; I should have."

Sara laughed bitterly, her tears finally running free, her face hardening as she wiped them angrily "But I didn't… and now this is who I am. Most of the times, it makes me sick, but it also made me stronger. And I can't escape it, I can't run away from what I've done, but I'm not gonna let you take this burden from me either. You have enough of your own grief without taking up mine. It's _my_ burden, it's my guilt."

Sara wiped her tears harshly, falling silent. Oliver was at a loss for words, his throat closing and his eyes stinging. He felt so much guilt that it was like the feeling had imbibed itself in his skin. He didn't know what to do when one of the people who should blame him the most told him so blatantly that her suffering was not his fault. He swallowed hard once, twice and cleared his throat before he finally managed to talk.

"I didn't mean to… I'm…" he sighed, not knowing what to say and not wanting to apologize again; he knew she wouldn't accept it. "I tend to get caught up in my own suffering a lot." He said by way of apology.

"It's okay, Ollie. We all have that tendency, it's in the human DNA." she said lowly. "But you have to know that you're not responsible for everything bad that's ever happened since the shipwreck. I know you can't help but feel that way, I've been there… but you have to let it go eventually." Sara said softly. "You have to let a little bit of it go every day and one day… it'll get easier. You'll have to forgive yourself."

"Did you? Did you forgive yourself?" he asked; he could hear the hopeful tone in his voice, but he couldn't hide it. If Sara had done it, so could he.

"I'm trying." she shrugged. "First step: release the guilt that doesn't belong to you."

They sat down on the floor again and stayed in comfortable silence; both lost in their own thoughts. After what seemed like hours, but were only minutes, Oliver spoke:

"Sara, you know that burden? Just because it's yours, doesn't mean you can't share it with me."

She looked at him thoughtfully "Maybe I'll take you up on that someday."

"And I'll be waiting." he assured her.

While that didn't happen, Oliver planned to work on that first step.

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><p><strong>AN.: Reviews? Thoughts? Your kind words make my day! Btw, all the word definitions came/will come from oxforddictionaries' website, so there's that.**


	3. Chapter 3: Deserving

**A/N.: So, this took me some time. I started (and never finished) writing three different chapters before I decided where this one was going. I'm sorry if it's boring but there's Olicity cuteness and feels in it and that makes me happy! Also, I know it's starting to look like a bunch of drabbles, but there will be a plot to it all. I know I said that it would be a two, maybe three shot, but that is so not gonna happen, lol. That was before I knew where I wanted to go with this and now that I kind of know, it'll be longer. **

**Friendly reminder that english is not my first language and I have no beta. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow. I do own a dog.**

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><p><em>Deserve: do something or have or show qualities worthy of (reward or punishment).<em>

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><p>It was the first business meeting they'd had since he had sex with Isabel, but, in truth, that wasn't what troubled Oliver on that particular morning. The fact that it was also the first time Felicity and Isabel were in the same room together since Russia was what troubled him. He didn't know what to expect.<p>

Truth was, he didn't know why he had slept with Isabel. Since he didn't know why he did it, Oliver blamed it on the alcohol. Oddly enough, that was exactly what pre-island Oliver Queen would've done; old habits and all that, he guessed.

They had been drunk, Isabel was there and, for an instant, he had seen a part of her that she kept hidden and she had gotten a glimpse beyond his mask. In that moment, it had felt good to be seen for more than a millionaire playboy without having to spell it out. Besides he had needed a release, a distraction from the many things he couldn't control. In his inebriated state, all that seemed like a good enough reason to have sex with her.

In his defense, he had regretted it. The minute he saw Felicity's reaction to the incident, he had regretted it. He felt like he needed to apologize, which was entirely irrational, but he did. He hadn't, though.

Ever since Oliver made Felicity his Executive Assistant, she had been working tirelessly to help him bring Queen Consolidated back to its feet. Seeing him with Isabel, the one responsible for making their lives harder on a daily basis, was probably like a slap in the face to her.

Oliver also entertained the idea that she had been jealous, but quickly dismissed that thought. Allowing himself to think that was dangerous, he couldn't let himself go down that road.

The fact that Felicity was attracted to him was not lost on Oliver. He didn't want to encourage her feelings to grow, but… he couldn't seem to stop touching her. After the first touch, he couldn't help it anymore.

He meant it as a comfort to her, but, in reality, he realized that it comforted him. Touching her reassured him that she was safe and well; it meant he hadn't failed to protect her yet. A hand on the small of her back, on her shoulder, stroking the length of her arm to grip her elbow; he touched her unconsciously. He only realized he was actually doing it when he let go, because the warmth of her skin was gone and the feeling of loss was intense.

Small touches: that's what he allowed himself. Anything beyond that was out of question. For the sake of her safety, and of his sanity, Oliver couldn't let himself think about having any other kind of relationship with Felicity than the one he had now. Even if he did, he didn't believe that her attraction towards him hinted at deeper feelings; she could do a lot better than him after all. Felicity was intelligent, kind, beautiful, funny, compassionate and a million of other things he didn't deserve to have.

When she had asked him why he had slept if Isabel, he had chosen to be honest. It wasn't a smart decision, but, at the time, he couldn't have told her differently if he tried. Oliver was well aware of the implication that telling her he couldn't be with someone he really cared about brought, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter, because she had to know. He needed her to know that he felt it; the tension, the energy between them, whatever it was; he felt it. He also needed her to know that pursuing it was a terrible idea and not something she should want; neither of them should want it.

Felicity deserved better than him. That knowledge made the fact that she had said _he_ deserved better than Isabel even more surprising. Oliver was in awe of Felicity, had been since the first time he met her, but she still managed to surprise him. He wasn't even sure he deserved what he already had in life, let alone better. Felicity's belief in him, her loyalty to him, her friendship; he tried to be worthy of it all every day and still felt like he failed sometimes.

This was one of those times that he felt like a failure; utterly powerless. Isabel, as usual, had been making derisive comments to undermine Felicity's work during the whole meeting and there was nothing Oliver could do about it. Every time he opened his mouth to answer her in the same fashion, Felicity shot him a glare that said _don't you dare. _He respected her silent request only because he knew she was right; it would be worse on her if he were to defend her in front of the heads of departments.

Oliver knew that by making Felicity his Executive Assistant from out of the blue he would be fueling the office gossip about them and making her life harder, but it had been a necessary evil. He was trying to follow Sara's advice and let go of any unnecessary guilt, so he tried not to regret it so much. He was proud of how well Felicity handled it all, though, especially Isabel. The woman was always trying to get a rise out of Felicity, but she never managed to do it.

Felicity had been dealing with Isabel gracefully all morning, considering how infuriated he knew she had been. Oliver noticed how tense she was now and seeing her like that made his temper short. He was beginning to wonder if it was time to call for a break, mostly to keep Felicity from snapping, when yet another problem was brought up.

"Lastly, there's one final issue that must be addressed. I'm sure you've seen the production numbers from the last quarter, Mr. Queen?" asked Richard Duncan, the head of the Production Department, an overweight middle aged caucasian man who merely tolerated him out of respect for his father.

He looked at Felicity; silently asking her what the man was referring to. She was ahead of him, though, and she glanced quickly at his tablet, indicating that he should check it. Taking the device in his hands, he saw that she had somehow hacked it using her own tablet and it now showed the information he needed. He fought the urge to smirk at her skillfulness and caught a glimpse of her smug little smile before answering the question.

"Yes, Mr. Duncan. The production numbers have dropped by 30% compared to the last quarter, if I'm not mistaken? It was expected, I take it, considering the fall of The Glades." he said.

"Between other reasons, yes." Isabel commented.

"What other reasons?" Oliver inquired, but his question seemed to make the entire room uncomfortable. He looked from one person to the other, waiting for someone to speak. "Please. Enlighten me."

Isabel looked like she was dying to answer him, but was enjoying his cluelessness a little too much to actually do it.

"Well, to be short and frank… Moira Queen's imprisonment and your recent five-month-long vacation combined with the conditions the factories have been in since the earthquake… the workers haven't been happy to work for us, to put it mildly." answered Nathaniel Garner, the head of the Human Resources department, making Oliver frown slightly.

"They don't want to be working for a company that ruined their lives. Repeatedly. I don't blame them, honestly. The only reason they don't leave is because they don't have any other choice." Isabel complemented derisively. Oliver clenched his jaw.

"Personal opinions aside," Mr. Garner went on with a glare in Isabel's direction; he didn't seem to approve of her. "it's an issue that has to be addressed quickly if we want to keep QC on its feet. What would you suggest we do, Mr. Queen?"

"I don't think it's fair to ask Mr. Queen to deal with all of this on top of the personal problems he's been going through." Isabel spoke with false sympathy. "His mother's… situation, his recent vacation and the changes in his… _staff_…" She looked at Felicity and smiled. "I'm sure Mr. Queen and his new Executive Assistant are still adapting, we shouldn't blame them for not having the time to go through all these problems beforehand. Running a company as big as QC is not easy, we all understand. Perhaps I should be the one to handle this."

Felicity was gripping her tablet so hard her knuckles were white. _How dare she? _Felicity thought. The sneaky woman thinks she can just waltz in and supposedly save the day, making Oliver look like a fool in front of the heads of department while _still_ managing to make her look incompetent, _oh_, she had another thought coming if Isabel thought it would be this easy.

"It is incredibly thoughtful of you to say that, Ms. Rochev, but I don't think it will be necessary." Felicity said as sweetly as she could manage, considering she wanted to drag the other woman out of the room by the hair. "Mr. Queen was already aware of the problem and has asked me to schedule a meeting with Mrs. Baxter, the head of the Workers' Council - I'm sure you know her - in order to find a solution that can benefit both parties. Isn't that right, Mr. Queen?"

Everyone turned to look at Oliver for confirmation and Felicity saw that he had his eyebrows slightly raised at her. She stared back at him with her best _yes-it's-bullshit-go-with-it_ look.

"That's correct, Ms. Smoak. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, I believe. Thank you for your concern, Ms. Rochev, but I have confidence that my _staff_ and I are fully prepared to handle whichever _issues_ we encounter."

Felicity smiled to herself and turned to see Isabel's reaction. _How's _that_ for shutting you up, huh?_

"We can go over the results of my meeting with Mrs. Baxter next week. If that was the last matter we had to discuss, I believe we are done for the day. Thank you, everyone" Oliver dismissed them with his brilliantly fake CEO smile. He motioned for Felicity to follow him and they headed back to his office. When they were out of earshot, Oliver spoke.

"Remind me, when did I ask you to schedule a meeting with Mrs. Baxter?" Oliver asked amusedly.

"Come on, Isabel Rochev was driving me _crazy_. It was either trying to one-up her or throwing my tablet in her face, so I went with the lie. And did you _see_ her face? She looked like she had been eating a whole bag of sour candy nonstop for hours." she smiled at herself, recalling the memory of Isabel's expression and missed the way Oliver was staring fondly at her. Felicity shook her head. "Anyway, not the point. The point is that the best solution _is_ to try and work something out with the Workers' Council before allowing those awful people to try and fire everyone."

They had arrived at Felicity's desk and Oliver stood in front of her, considering her words. Felicity went on before he could answer. "I know what you're thinking, because we all know that Mrs. Baxter doesn't like you, but she happens to think _I'm_ adorable and I think I can convince her to be reasonable with you, so it won't be a lie after all and-"

"Mrs. Baxter doesn't like me?" Oliver questioned with a frown.

"_That's_ what you got from all this?" Felicity said skeptically.

"No, but that's the only part that confuses me." he explained "Your solution is clearly the best one, Felicity. The Workers' Council doesn't like me, but keeping our workers employed is our main priority and we can't do that unless I can reach a compromise with them. You're better at this than I am, actually."

Felicity blushed at his words and was surprised by his matter-of-fact tone. She didn't believe it, though. She knew that he would be an even more amazing CEO if he was completely invested in it, but that wasn't possible to any of them, with their nightly activities and all.

Oliver touched her arm and squeezed it briefly before continuing. "Thank you for having my back, by the way. I know pulling you out of the IT Department and making you my EA wasn't fair to you, but I couldn't find anyone more capable even if I'd had an option."

"Your back is always my pleasure." Felicity said with a fond smile at his words and then widened her eyes, her smile dropping. "_Having_. Having your back is always me pleasure. I didn't mean it like… you know. _Not_ that I don't love your back, because you have a great back and-" _Crap._ She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, the warm weight of his hand on her arm not helping with her brain to mouth filter malfunction. She sighed. "It all sounded less sexual in my head."

Oliver let go of her arm; he couldn't afford to be touching her when she said these things. He smirked. "Don't worry. You can have more of my back tonight at the foundry." He turned around and entered his office before he could regret his words too much.

Taking a seat, he chanced a quick glance at Felicity to see the pretty blush that he knew would be coloring her cheeks. He wasn't disappointed, she was standing there staring vacantly at the place he had been standing and blushing deeply. Oliver couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight and forget for a moment why he shouldn't be saying things like that. _It was worth it._

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><p><strong>AN.: I love flirty Oliver and blushing Felicity! I just had to write Olicity being sneaky during a business meeting, it had to be done. Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas? Feels? Come at me with them feels, bro. Reviews are like puppies to me. **

**P.S.: Can someone please tell me what kind of company QC is? It obviously has (or used to have) a foundry and it has an Applied Sciences Division, but other than that I have no idea? That's why the business part is so generic, so, help a girl out here? Thanks in advance!**


	4. Chapter 4: Trust

**A/N.: It's been so long and I've missed this! Sorry it's been so long. College is crazy and I'm preparing for a super important test that might land me a job, so I have to study and there's no time for anything else. It'll probably be a long while before I update this again. Sorry if there was anyone waiting for it, though I doubt it. This chapter was almost finished, though, so I thought "what the hell", right? **

**Anyway, this takes place right after the episode Barry leaves (not sure which one that is) and before the one in which Felicity is back. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow. I own two dogs now! **

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><p><em>Trust: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.<em>

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><p>It was like a normal day at the office; except it wasn't. Oliver was sitting at his desk, reading some important contracts, but not really, and stealing glances at Felicity every now and again. He didn't know how to act around her after the last few weeks. She was at her own desk, typing furiously, as always, and it didn't seem like anything was amiss. Still, Oliver couldn't help but worry that her encounter with The Count a few weeks ago was affecting her more than she was letting on.<p>

When he got the call that day, he didn't even think twice. It was the middle of his mother's trial and that was consuming his mind entirely, but when he got that call and it wasn't Felicity's ever cheerful voice on the other end, nothing else mattered; he had to get to her.

Seeing her at the hands of The Count had left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. He was supposed to protect her. She was a part of his team and keeping her out of harm's way was a condition he had established when she joined the mission. Failing to do that was not an option.

His blood had run cold like it hadn't in a long time when The Count used Felicity as a human shield. His head had twirled with the possibilities of what could go wrong; with the possibility of losing her. It hadn't been just the thought of having another innocent's blood in his hands. It was Felicity. There wasn't and there would never be a choice when it came to her safety.

And she had apologized to him. He should've been the one saying sorry for letting it happen in the first place and she had been the one to apologize. Oliver hadn't been sorry for killing The Count, and he would do it a hundred times over if it meant keeping her safe, but the fact that she cared enough to worry how he felt about it meant everything.

Looking back, he knew he'd keep coming back the moment he met her; that was the first time he had genuinely smiled in a while and that made him feel like he could trust her. If he hadn't trusted her then, he wouldn't have ended up bleeding in her car, revealing his true identity to her. He had trusted her with his life that day and had been doing it ever since. Felicity was the light on his path when he was out on the streets.

He knew she trusted him as well; maybe too much for her own good. Dig and he had made a promise to protect her when they brought Felicity into this, but, recent events included, it troubled Oliver how many close calls they'd had. The 'what ifs' haunted him. What if he didn't arrive in time on the next close call? What if he wasn't there to protect her?

Oliver tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind, but he worried if there would ever be a day Felicity decided that enough was enough; hence why he had been staring at her all morning, trying to see if she was acting any different. So far, he had concluded that the only different thing in her behavior was due to Barry Allen's appearance.

Barry Allen. Oliver didn't trust him. He knew that the kid was hiding something from the start. He was surprised that Felicity couldn't tell; her instincts were usually sharper. The fact that she was smitten with the boy had clouded her judgment, he knew, and Oliver wasn't overjoyed about the fact that Allen had saved his life either.

He knew Felicity and Diggle had had justifiable reasons to resort to Allen for help and he knew that asking the kid for help had been the logical decision. Logic didn't matter, though; Oliver still felt a tinge of betrayal. They had revealed his secret without his permission and, yes, the decision had saved his life, but it wasn't their choice to make. Oliver didn't feel comfortable needing other people. Relying on others got you killed; that was another lesson the island had taught him.

Since the island, he had only trusted two people, and those were Diggle and Felicity. The idea that his life had been put in the hands of someone he didn't choose to trust went against every rule he had made for himself and that's why he had felt so betrayed. He didn't blame Diggle and Felicity, though; he could only imagine what he would do if the roles were reversed. If he had to choose between breaking their trust and letting them die, he would choose the first one every time.

In truth, it made him feel like an ungrateful little bastard just thinking all this, but he couldn't exactly help it, could he?

At that moment, Felicity rose from her chair and entered Oliver's office.

"You can call me Tony Stark from now on. Yep, that's gonna be my new codename now, because I am a genius." she said, a bright smile on her face. "Actually, if I had to choose, I'd probably be Natasha Romanov, because, let's face it, she's the one who always saves everyone and she's so much more badass than the oth-" she cut off at Oliver's raised eyebrows "And you have no idea what I'm talking about. Seriously, we've gotta get you caught up on those movies, Oliver, it's getting embarrassing."

"What do you have for me, Felicity?" he asked, his lips curving up at her ramble.

"A lead, which doesn't sound like much, but for the time it took me, you should be offering me a room at the Queen Mansion." she said smugly, then her eyes widened at her own words "Not that I want to move in with you, not at all. I mean, not that I find the idea completely repulsive either, it's just that-" she blushed "You know what? Why don't I just tell you what I found?" she approached his desk and handed him the tablet.

"What am I looking at here?" he frowned, thumbing through a series of files, which went from blueprints of buildings to financial records and electricity usage charts. She was about to answer him when Diggle walked through the door.

"Good, you're here. Now I only have to explain it once." she said, turning to the man.

"Felicity, what was so important that I had to come up here in the middle of my basketball game?" Diggle frowned.

"Basketball? Weren't you supposed to be making security rounds?" Oliver asked curiously.

"Weren't you supposed to be reading that pile of paperwork that has remained with the same size since we arrived this morning?" Diggle asked pointedly.

Felicity snorted and Oliver smiled slightly, nodding his head once as if saying touché.

"Sorry about your game, Dig, I wouldn't have called you if it wasn't important." Felicity said.

Diggle dismissed her apology with a wave of his hand as he looked at the tablet Oliver had handed him. "So, what is this all about?" he prompted.

"Barry and I were brainstorming and we came up with this theory that-"

"Allen? You've been discussing this with Barry Allen?" Oliver clenched his jaw. He wasn't sure if he was mad that she had been talking to Allen about this at all or if he was angry about the fact that she hadn't talked to him first about it.

"Yeah." she said and stared confusedly at Oliver's hard face until realization dawned on her, then she sighed "Don't worry, Oliver. He won't tell anyone, I didn't share the details anyway and… he saved your life, remember? Besides, he's really enthusiastic about the whole thing, he wouldn't want to lose all that by telling anyone." Felicity said dismissively.

"Maybe a little too enthusiastic, don't you think?" Diggle asked with concern.

"What do you mean?" Felicity questioned confusedly.

Oliver shared a look of understanding with Dig and answered her question. "What he means is: we don't trust him. And I don't feel comfortable with you sharing things about our investigations with him, Felicity. He did save my life, but that doesn't mean that he will keep my identity a secret; and if he does, that doesn't mean that he won't do it for ulterior motives."

"What? I don't know if you noticed, but he helped us, Oliver." she took a step closer to his desk, her eyes boring into his "When he first arrived, he didn't even have to share the information he had or his methods with us, but he did. He saved your life and that's enough reason for me to trust him. If you don't trust him, trust me instead. Trust my judgment".

Oliver wanted to respond to that with as much vehemence as she had, but one look from Dig that clearly said drop it was enough to shut him up, so he resigned himself to clench his fists and jaw in silence.

"What did you find, Felicity?" Diggle changed the subject before it all turned into a full blown argument.

"Locations." she turned to look at Diggle.

"We're all assuming that whoever is behind all this Mirakuru thing is not gonna stop; so they're going to have to move to another place, right? Barry and I figured that it has to be big to fit a lot of lab equipment and it also has to be secluded. I started searching for places that fit those requirements, but there were too many possibilities." she smiled lightly, obviously pleased with herself "Then, I decided to cross reference with the ones that had an increase of electricity usage since the day Oliver…" she didn't know how to sensibly describe the day "… rescued Roy… and came up with seven locations. I know it's not lot and it's a long shot, but it's something. What do you guys think?"

"Tonight? You take four and I take three?" Diggle asked Oliver, knowing that he wouldn't let him take four instead.

"Sounds like a plan." Oliver replied.

"Great. I'll clear your schedule." Felicity said as she took her tablet from Dig's hands and walked out of the room.

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><p>Felicity Smoak was right most of the time and, boy, did she love it. She had always been too smart for her age and it was one of the reasons why she'd never had many friends growing up. The other kids didn't like the fact that she was right most of the time as much as she did; Felicity was loathed as the know it all and that had pushed her further and further away from her peers.<p>

Later in life, she would realize that others didn't ask your opinion to know what was right or to know the truth; they asked so you could tell them what they wanted to hear. Felicity was not one to tell you what she thought you wanted to hear, though, she told it like it was, plain and simple.

That's why she kept to herself; she had never quite figured out what was appropriate to say and what wasn't, hence why she rambled so much. It was like her brain went into overdrive while trying to socialize and she ended up spilling out everything that crossed her mind. Fitting in had always been a problem to her.

Younger Felicity thought that MIT would be the one place she would finally be able to fit in, both intellectually and socially. It did live up to her expectations. She had found people who could actually understand her and didn't think it was weird at all how passionate she was about computers; she had found challenges to her bright mind and socializing became a little less painful during those years.

But after she landed a dream job at QC and found herself being exactly where she hoped to be when she was younger, Felicity found herself craving more. She had no idea what it was, but she wanted it. Is this all there is to life? She used to think. Felicity had no idea what she was missing in life, but she wanted it. All of that troubled her thoughts from time to time.

That was until she found a green leather clad man bleeding on the backseat of her car and her world changed.

Now, she can't help but think that her life finally makes sense. Her work with Oliver and Dig just makes sense. She feels like she's doing something good, something right. If someone had told young Felicity Smoak that she would find herself fitting in while fighting crime beside a leather clad hero and an ex-military badass sidekick, she would've laughed in your face. Yet, there she was. She could now use her intelligence in a way she had never thought possible, with different challenges being brought to her every day. She is now appreciated for being herself.

Tonight was a bust, though. Felicity had been so excited about her findings that afternoon and it just turned out to be a huge waste of time. The high point of the night had been when Dig scared a few teenagers from vandalizing one of the abandoned buildings they had been searching. Other than that, it had all been a colossal failure.

She got up as she heard Oliver and Diggle coming down the stairs and immediately started letting her pent up frustration out. "I don't understand. It should've been one of those locations. It's only logical, I mean, they have to be keeping it local, right?" she got up and started pacing in front of her desk as the guys made their way to her "We've been monitoring the docks and there's nothing suspicious there, so it should be in the city and it should've been one of those places, I'm sorry, I don't-"

"Felicity, breathe." Oliver said, stopping in front of her and putting a hand on her shoulder. She would be lying if she said that his words were the reason she stopped talking; his hands on her were enough to distract her anytime. "There's nothing to be sorry about. We'll come up with something." He reassured her and stepped away to put his bow in its holder.

"Yeah, they'll slip up eventually and, when they do, we'll catch them" Diggle said.

"No, these people know what they're doing. I don't think they'll simply slip up. We're going to have to keep digging if we want to catch them." Oliver took off his gloves and threw them at a table. "There's something I'm missing here. What are the chances that the Mirakuru, a drug that spent years lost to the world in a submarine, would resurface here in Starling City, where one of the few people who know about its existence lives? There's some kind of connection that I'm missing".

Felicity was about to voice her thoughts when her phone rang. She walked to her desk and took the phone out of her purse. Not recognizing the number, but seeing that it had Central City's area code, she answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hello, am I speaking to Felicity Smoak?" a female voice asked.

"Yes, this is she. Who wants to know?" Felicity replied.

"Miss Smoak, this is Officer Diaz with the Central City Police Department. We're calling about Mr. Barry Allen. He's been injured in an accident and yours was the last number dialed on his phone, we wanted to let his closest friends know about his condition, since he doesn't have any family that we know of" the woman explained.

Felicity paled at the woman's words "A-Accident? What kind of accident? Is he okay? He's alive, right? You said injured, if he was… if he was d-dead you wouldn't have said injured, so he has to be alive." Felicity asked, her voice shaking.

"Yes, ma'am, he is alive, though he's in the hospital. He was injured by a shockwave caused by a particle accelerator. I'm afraid I can't give you many details over the phone, considering you're not a family member, but we wanted the people closest to him to be notified." Officer Diaz told her.

Felicity took a few deep breaths to get her head to stop spinning before she could answer, she was stunned "We're not really close friends, I mean, we've only just met and… anyway, yes, I understand that you can't tell me the details over the phone. I'll be in the next train to Central City and, hopefully you can tell me more about it then? Just text me in which hospital he's staying and maybe I can meet you, or anyone else you send, there?"

"Yes, that would be possible, ma'am. We're all very fond of Barry here at CCPD and we're all hoping for his recovery, that's why we've decided to reach out. I'll see you shortly, Miss Smoak." Officer Diaz said kindly.

"Thank you for calling me, Officer Diaz. I'll see you soon." Felicity replied distractedly and ended the call.

"Felicity? What is it?" Diggle asked worriedly after noticing how pale she looked.

"I… He… Barry is in the hospital, there was an accident." she explained, still staring at her phone. How could this have happened? They had spoken for a while when he arrived in Central City and he was fine. The worst thing was that there was no one else with him. That thought settled her resolve "I have to go there." She turned to look at Oliver and saw the surprise on his face "H-he doesn't have a family, there's no one to be there for him. I have to go. Oliver, is it okay if I miss a few days of work?"

Oliver didn't know how he felt about all this. He didn't like the idea of Felicity leaving to go after a guy she barely knew, but the sad look in her eyes made his response an easy one. "Of course. You can take all the time you need. Just make sure you come back soon" he let it slip what really worried him about this trip and immediately tried to fix it "There's an important meeting at QC next week and we have to be ready"

She sighed in relief. "Thank you." Felicity started gathering her things "And I'm not forgetting about that meeting. I should be back by then and, if I'm not, I'll make sure to send you everything you'll need."

"He'll be okay, Felicity." Dig reassured her "Keep us posted."

"Will do." She looked at Oliver. "Don't worry, I'll hurry back. I promise." Felicity knew he wasn't thrilled about all this and she felt the need to let him know she'd be back as soon as possible. This was the right place for her after all, beside her boys.

Oliver nodded and watched her go, knowing she'd keep her promise. He trusted her, after all.

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><p><strong>AN.: I know, I know, "Where's the damned plot of this thing?", right? I know, sorry. I just wanted to show how they're feeling at this point before the real fun starts. The way I'm planning this story, it's gonna become AU soon, so be warned. It's gonna be a couple of months before I update it again, but it might be a good thing! My plot bunnies will be well fed by then! I hope so. Actually, don't get your hopes up, I'm crap at this **sobs in a corner** Self-pity aside...**

**Review, please? Say nice things and make me happy? Help me improve my writing? I have no idea what I'm doing?**

**PS.: I fixed some cringy typos that I found on the last chapter, but didn't change anything else. I don't know if you get alerts for these things, but just thought I'd warn you. **


	5. Chapter 5: Discover

**A.N.: Hey, guys, I've missed this! I know I'm not a writer and that I'm not good, but writing this makes me happy, so screw it. Sorry it's been so long, but life gets in the way. Anyway, the plot is starting to show in this chapter! The invisible dots from previous chapters will (hopefully) be connected in the next chapter. **

**Oh, it's AU from this point on and Oliver and Sara never started a relationship. ****(By the way, how awesome was the finale? I'm still not over it!)**

**Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, but I love it like I love my puppies. **

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><p><em>Discover: f<em>_ind (something or someone) unexpectedly or in the course of a search._

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><p>Oliver sighed as he climbed the salmon ladder for the sixth time that night. It was his favorite kind of exercise. The repetitive motion allowed him to empty his mind for a while; the sound of Dig cleaning his guns and Felicity typing making a familiar background noise.<p>

He stopped in the middle of the ladder when this thought crossed his mind; both sounds were absent. Looking around, he noticed that Diggle had a concerned expression and followed his line of sight to Felicity, who was currently staring blankly at her computer screens, hands frozen on the keyboard. She looked like her mind was miles away.

"Felicity" Oliver called and frowned as she didn't even blink at the sound of his voice.

She had been acting strangely for the past week, avoiding him and even Dig. They had been waiting for her to say something when she was ready, but, considering her current state, it was past time they talked to her about it. Sharing a look with Dig, Oliver dropped from the salmon ladder as Dig got up from behind the desk he had been using to polish the guns, both men approaching Felicity.

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><p><em>- Beginning of flashback -<em>

_Four days earlier_

Felicity was frustrated. Ever since Roy joined the mission, the blond had spent all the time she could spare researching about the mirakuru. Knowing more about how the drug worked and what it did, she thought it would be easier to find some kind of information about it, some traces of its existence. She was wrong. The World Wide Web had failed her for the first time and she was _not_ happy.

She had looked everywhere and, aside from conspiracy theories about government contracts with the military and people who claimed to have superpowers, she had not found anything constructive.

Researching Anthony Ivo had led her to a dead end as well. The man had been a renowned scientist before the island. He had a master's degree in Structural Biology and had worked as the Head of Cellular and Structural Biology Department at Ivy University, located in Ivy Town, for over a decade. Then, S.T.A.R. Labs recruited him and he worked there for a while before being sacked for doing shady experiments. She couldn't find out exactly what those experiments were.

She had even called Caitlin and Cisco, some of Barry's friends she met a few weeks ago during her time at Central City. They worked at S.T.A.R. Labs and Felicity thought they could shed some light on her research, but they only knew rumors about Anthony Ivo. Apparently, the man was a total whack job. _No surprise there._

After that, she couldn't find anything. She knew he had been with Oliver in the island, but, before that, there were three years of the man's life missing. No bank account movements and he didn't use his passport or his phone. It was like he had been sucked into a void.

She had been at it for a few days and was about to give up when she received an email from Caitlin with a few files the woman had promised to send about Anthony Ivo. She said there wasn't a lot of information in it, just boring reports and some pictures. Felicity wanted them anyway, though. It was something.

"Oh my God." she whispered in shock as she stared at the screen. She felt like a block of ice had dropped in her stomach. _This can't be happening._

"Felicity?" Oliver said, getting close to her desk at the foundry "What is it?"

"What?" She quickly closed all her research; getting up, she picked up her purse distractedly "Nothing. I just remembered I have an emergency." Oliver quirked his eyebrow "Of-of the dental kind. A dental emergency, yes. I think I have another wisdom tooth coming out and I want to, you know, check that out. If I don't do it now, it'll start to ache and my jaw will get all swollen and get to the size of your jaw." she laughed nervously then stopped when Oliver raised his eyebrows. "Not that I have a problem with your jaw, it's quite impressive, all chiseled and… all… that and… I have to go now. See you later, bye."

She left before he could call her out on her bullshit.

_- End of flashback -_

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><p>"Felicity" Oliver repeated, putting a hand on her shoulder.<p>

"Gaah" she startled and Oliver dropped his hand. "I told you guys not to sneak up on me, I'm too young to have a heart attack." she said looking from one to the other, sounding annoyed. "What is it?"

The men shared another look. Pulling a chair and sitting beside Felicity, Diggle went directly to the point. "What is going on with you, Felicity? You've been acting strangely. You're avoiding us."

The blond turned back to the computer and started typing again. "What are you talking about? I'm not avoiding anyone. I'm just busy with this right now."

"I've been watching you stare blankly at the computer for the last ten minutes." Diggle pointed out. She remained silent.

"Felicity." Oliver waited until she looked at him before continuing "You can tell us. Whatever it is, we can help you." He saw the concern in her eyes and took her hand "We're a team, remember?"

"Okay, yes, you're right." getting up, she started pacing the room. "Of course you're right. I just needed some time to sort out everything in my head and I didn't know how to tell you this, but... here goes nothing." She took a deep breath. "You know how I've been looking for information about the mirakuru and Anthony Ivo? Well, I've found something." Oliver tensed at her words, while Diggle stood up.

"What did you find, Felicity?" Oliver asked.

"A picture. A picture of him and the team of scientists who worked with him at Ivy University." Oliver and Diggle frowned, Felicity shook her head and went back to her desk "Here, this will be easier if I show it to you." Felicity opened in the middle screen a picture of five men and two women, all wearing lab coats; amongst them was Anthony Ivo.

Oliver stared at each scientist, trying to see what Felicity saw.

"I don't understand why this picture is relevant, Felicity" Diggle said.

Oliver recognized one of the men; a caucasian man in his thirties with blue eyes and curly brown hair. Oliver met him once before, his name was Dr. Austin Goodwin. Felicity's next sentence kept him from going down memory lane.

"Yeah, you wouldn't. This man, though..." she pointed a shaky finger to Dr. Goodwin. "That is my father. Biologically speaking." she said in a small voice.

Oliver tensed and stared at Felicity in shock as his heart started beating a mile a minute. _It can't be true._

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><p><strong>A.N.: Did you see that one coming? How do you think Oliver knows him? Review, review!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6: Secret

**A.N.: First, let me just say (and this is important): misschristy, you've made me so happy with your reviews that I've been smiling all day and I wanna frame your kind words and put them on my wall, thank you, thank you, thank you! And thank you to all of you who are following and favoriting this story, it makes me so happy, you have no idea! Motivation sure is a powerful thing! I wasn't even going to post anything today and suddenly I can't stop writing!**

**That being said, let's go back to business. We're picking up where we left off last chapter. I was planning on skipping this, but I couldn't. Shady Oliver demands to be shady. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow!**

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><p><em>Secret: something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.<em>

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><p><em>"<em>_I don't understand why this picture is relevant, Felicity" Diggle said._

_Oliver recognized one of the men; a caucasian man in his thirties with blue eyes and curly brown hair. Oliver met him once before, his name was Dr. Austin Goodwin. Felicity's next sentence kept him from going down memory lane._

_"__Yeah, you wouldn't. This man, though..." she pointed a shaky finger to Dr. Goodwin. "That is my father. Biologically speaking." she said in a small voice. _

_Oliver tensed and stared at Felicity in shock as his heart started beating a mile a minute. It can't be true. _

"What? Your father? You don't have his surname? Wait, back up, how did you find this picture in the first place?" Dig asked, trying to make sense of everything.

"No, I only have my mother's surname." Felicity explained briefly. "The picture was in the file Caitlin Snow sent me about Anthony Ivo. She's one of Barry's friends, I met her at Central City; she works at S.T.A.R. Labs. Anyway, there wasn't much in the file, just old reports about a few researches, things like that, and then there was this picture…" she got quiet and spaced out for a few moments.

"Felicity?" Diggle called worriedly.

"He's a geneticist, you know? And a biochemist" she looked at them "I didn't know that. My mom told me he was a scientist, but I didn't know what he studied." She chuckled bitterly. "He studies the human DNA and doesn't give a shit about his own, since he never bothered to be a part of his daughter's life" she started laughing "How ironic is that, right?"

Oliver couldn't bring himself to say anything. He couldn't tell her, not now, so he did the only thing he could. He took her hands and pulled her to her feet as her laughter became hysterical.

"Felicity, look at me." Oliver said, putting a hand on her shoulder. When her eyes met his, her laughter died out. Her eyes watered and, as she started to sob, Oliver pulled her into a hug. "We're here for you, okay?" he assured her, squeezing her waist once and sharing a concerned look with Dig over her head.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I don't even know why I'm crying." She said as she tried to catch her breath, pressing her face to his chest as she hugged him back tightly. "I just… I've never looked for him. I've considered it, but I decided that if he didn't want anything to do with me, I sure as hell didn't want anything to do with him and now… Now he suddenly comes up and he might be connected to these horrible things and _I don't know_. I don't know what kind of person he is".

She pulled back from Oliver's embrace, doing her best to dry her tears, and looked from him to Dig. "What if he's bad? What if he's like-like an evil scientist? What if he created the mirakuru and did terrible things to people, like Professor Ivo did? I mean, they worked together, what if he's a-a _monster_? What does that mean for me? Am I the daughter of a monster?" she asked in quick succession, whispering the last question.

Oliver was left speechless by the pain he saw in her eyes. He'd tell her everything now if he was sure it would make her feel better, but he was worried it would confuse her and hurt her even more.

"Felicity, you can't think like that." Diggle said, walking over to stand in front of her. "Who he is and what he did or does? It doesn't reflect on you." he smiled lightly and handed her his suit's pocket square "You're Felicity Smoak, the kindest and most intelligent person we know. That's enough for us and it should be enough for you." Felicity smiled as her eyes watered again.

"Dig's right, Felicity." Oliver spoke and she looked at him "_You're our partner_. Where you come from won't change that. Nothing's gonna change that." Oliver said kindly.

"Thank you" she said gratefully, drying her eyes and nose with the cloth. "I needed to hear that."

"We'll find out more about your father, Felicity. We'll help you with anything you need". Diggle assured her and looked at Oliver, who nodded.

Not wanting to think about how betrayed Felicity would feel when she found out that he knew her father, Oliver changed the subject to something that was bothering him.

"You said Caitlin from S.T.A.R. Labs gave you this file, but you'd checked their database before, hadn't you?" Oliver asked "I remember when you started doing a background check on Ivo you didn't find anything and got extremely frustrated."

"Yeah, you yelled at me for bringing you cupcakes. Those were dark times." Diggle added amusedly and Felicity blushed.

"I said I was sorry about that" she grumbled. "Yes, I remember it. Apparently, the files she sent me were not on the servers because they weren't that important, so they were stored in the physical archives." she explained "They seem to think their online servers are more secure than their physical archive." She smirked "It's really cute of them. I mean, their system is quite good, I'd give it a B+, but I'm better."

"This Caitlin, do you trust her?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, I have no reason not to." Felicity said carefully. "She's been nothing but helpful and nice."

"What are you thinking, Oliver?" Diggle asked frowning.

"Don't you think it's odd that a file containing an important connection to the mirakuru would suddenly land in our laps after all the time Felicity's spent coming up short in her searches?" Oliver asked.

"Do you think someone planted it there?" Felicity said incredulously "Uh, paranoid much? What would that even achieve? I mean, it's about _my_ father, it affects _me_."

"And what affects you also affects us. It affects the Arrow. Oliver could be right." Diggle said thoughtfully. "If it were the case, I imagine they'd want to cause some sort of reaction; make the Arrow think Felicity's father is in on all this mirakuru business and cause you to distrust her, perhaps"

_Or make _her_ not trust _me, Oliver thought, but refrained from saying it, considering that he didn't plan on telling them anything about his history with Felicity's father at the moment.

"Even if it were true, it couldn't have been Caitlin. She's nice; I didn't get any evil vibes from her." Felicity said and, seeing Oliver's quirked eyebrow and Dig's amused expression, she added "What? Evil vibes are a thing, okay?" she looked at Oliver "You're very good at radiating them when you're in Arrow mode, with all the, you know, _grrr…_" she made a weird face and a claw with her hand.

Oliver chuckled, he was just happy to see her returning to normal. "Well, it's simply a theory and we won't find anything more today, so… Big Belly Burgers?" he said

"I second that" Dig nodded.

"_Yes, please_, I'm starving." Felicity said, getting up and gathering her purse "Huh, turns out having a meltdown makes you hungry, who would've thought?" she added jokingly.

"You guys go ahead, I'll just change and meet you at the car" Oliver said. He was still in his workout clothes, but that had been just an excuse. He needed a few minutes alone to think.

Austin Goodwin. Oliver thought he'd never hear that name again and now he found out the man was Felicity's father. Now that he thought about it, Felicity had his eyes; the same shade of blue.

_The color's the only thing in common, though, _he thought. Felicity's eyes are open, kind, and they shine; her entire personality's in her eyes for anyone to see. He remembered Dr. Goodwin as a gentle, yet mysterious, man; one who had more secrets and darkness in his life than he cared to have, and all of that showed in his eyes.

Oliver shook his head before the memories could carry him away. He couldn't dwell on all of it right now. In time, he would tell Felicity everything. Since they became partners, he hadn't lied to her once and he wasn't about to start doing it. He didn't think it would do her any good to know the whole story now, though; for the moment, he would settle on just being there for her.

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><p><strong>A.N.: So...? What do you guys think? I thought Felicity deserved a breakdown and, being Felicity, she'd obviously downplay it later, my baby. Oliver is hiding something, lalala-lala-la. Felicity's gonna be soooo mad, oh, boy, can't wait to write that! See you next time, review, review!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7: Turmoil

**A.N.: Long time, no see, everyone! Sorry, I've been busy, college is sucking my energies. I've been struggling with this chapter for a while; plot decisions had to be made and I suck at deciding anything. Good news is: I think this chapter is the longest one yet! **

****I've connected some dots, see if you can find them and predict what comes next! It might be a little confusing, I don't know if I managed to put what I was thinking into words. Sorry if you feel like it's taking me too long to write a chapter about Oliver and Felicity's father, but a few things have to happen before we get there. ****But never fear, little grasshoppers; things will be explained. Feel free to ask anything, though. ********

**In which: Dig won't take none of Oliver's shit (*snaps fingers in a Z formation*); Felicity worries about her boys (awwn!); Felicity is brilliant as usual and discovers things (everyone would be so lost without her, it's not even funny). **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, duh. **

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><p><em>Turmoil: A state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty.<em>

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><p>Slade Wilson is alive. He had come to Oliver's house and openly threatened him and his family. Oliver regretted a lot of things, but he had never regretted finding out he hadn't killed someone until now. He knew the ghosts of the island would haunt him forever; his one relief was that they were only ghosts. Now he didn't even have that. Slade was back and Oliver was constantly looking over his shoulder; dreading the next disaster. It was a waiting game and he had never been a patient man.<p>

In light Slade's return, the discovery about Felicity's father was left in the backburner. Oliver didn't even wanna think about it. Three days had passed and he still hadn't said anything to Felicity about his past with her father. He had tried a few times, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth. He couldn't risk losing her, not now, not when he needed her most; and he was positive it would happen when she found out what he had done.

Besides, every time Oliver or Dig brought up the subject, Felicity would dismiss it. Dig said she needed time to come to terms with it all. He was all too happy to give her all the time in the world, dreading the day he told her everything. The memory of her face while she stared at that picture and spoke to them about her father was enough to keep him from saying anything, he never wanted to see that kind of pain crossing her features again.

On top of having to deal with the discovery about her father, Felicity had been working tirelessly, he knew, trying to get information on Slade. Where he had been all these years, how come he had so much money now, where he was staying in Starling City, who was helping him, anything, really. Oliver knew she wouldn't find much, though. Slade had been plotting this for too long to leave traces behind. Still, he had faith in her; if there was something to be found, she'd find it.

Oliver was thankful for the work she was putting on learning about Slade; it took all of her focus and she didn't notice how strange he had been acting. Keeping his past with her father a secret was taking its toll on him. Diggle had noticed his behavior, though, but the man hadn't brought it up yet. Oliver was expecting a confrontation soon. Turns out he didn't have to wait long.

They were in the town car, on their way to the foundry to meet Felicity and start their nightly work, when Oliver noticed Diggle taking a different turn. He raised an eyebrow at Diggle through the rearview mirror and the man raised one back.

"We're stopping at Big Belly Burger. I think we need to have a little chat." Diggle said in his best don't argue with me tone and Oliver simply sighed.

Fifteen minutes later they were sitting in their usual spot and, right after their orders arrived, Diggle spoke seriously. "All right, cut the crap, man. I'm giving you a chance to tell me what you're hiding on your own terms, or else I'll take it upstairs."

"Upstairs?" Oliver repeated in confusion.

"To Felicity. We all know she's the boss of us; she sure as hell acts like it" he explained matter-of-factly, with a slight smile. "Now out with it." he said, his face serious again, motioning with his hands for Oliver to start speaking.

Oliver sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, looking out the window and considering where to start. Apparently, Diggle took his silence as refusal, since he started speaking again.

"Look, Oliver, I know there are secrets in your past that you don't want to share and that's perfectly fine." Diggle began tiredly, continuing with conviction. "But the minute those secrets start to affect others, the minute they threaten all our safeties, _that's_ when I draw the line." Oliver looked into his friend's eyes and frowned as Diggle spoke heatedly. "So, if there's anything about Slade that you didn't tell us, you need to start speaking right now, because I'll be _damned_ if-"

"I know Felicity's father" Oliver cut him off and Diggle stared at him in confusion "I've met him a few years ago in Hong Kong, during some of the time I spent off the island." he saw comprehension dawning on Dig's face as he explained, quickly followed by anger "After I thought I killed Slade and the frater blew up, I woke up in Hong Kong and agents of A.R.G.U.S. were all over the place. That was when I met Amanda Waller, she was the one who-"

"No, no, no. _Hell no_." Diggle said in anger. "I'm not hearing this. You're not telling me this story now." Dig shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest "How could you be so _stupid_, Oliver? Keeping something like this from her? And about her _father_? You know how hard that subject is for her and you still… Argh, _fuck_, man."

"That's exactly why I didn't say anything." Oliver explained. "Look, there's a lot to this story and I had no idea how she'd react if I just told her all of it right away. And then Slade returned and I wanted…" he ran a hand through his short hair "I wanted to give her some time, I wanted to protect her-"

"Oh, _screw_ that, man. That whole 'I tell lies to protect people', that twisted rule of yours? It doesn't apply to Felicity; or to me for that matter." Diggle said as Oliver clenched his jaw in frustration "We're your partners; you can't pull that kinda bullshit on us and you know it. Whatever it is your hiding, you're protecting yourself, not her." He pointed a finger at Oliver "Fix this. _Tell_ her. I don't want to know anything now; I'm not gonna lie to her for you and it's your secret to tell. So tell her. _Soon_."

Oliver stewed in frustration as Diggle began to eat. Part of him longed to fight Dig on this, but, deep down, he knew the man was right. So Oliver held himself back and ate his food as he glared at Dig.

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><p>Felicity sighed as she looked away from her computer screens to quickly check the hour on her phone for the fifth time in as many minutes. The boys were late. They were supposed to swing by the Queen Mansion, heading straight to the foundry afterwards, and surely it couldn't take two hours; there <em>had<em> to be something wrong.

Slade Wilson's return had left her beyond paranoid, though she tried not to let it show. She was constantly surrounded by tough guys, and one very tough lady, and Felicity Smoak would _not_ be the weak link. She glanced at Sara and Roy, who were training in the mat, and clenched her jaw at the thought.

The new additions to the team had been welcome, though it had been a difficult adjustment. Felicity was used to taking care of her boys by herself from afar; hating how utterly useless she was in the field. Having to watch as the new members did exactly what she couldn't do had been painful at first, especially Sara.

Felicity admired her, she really did. Sara was strong, fierce, intelligent, and gorgeous; the woman was a freaking superhero. Watching them all together, sparing and trading stories about scars had left her feeling out of place for the first time since she joined Oliver on his mission. She felt left out in the only place she thought she could fit in effortlessly. Hence, the whole Clock King debacle.

Felicity wanted to groan just thinking about it. She still had no idea what she said while high as a kite; Oliver and Diggle would just smile whenever she asked them. _And her shoulder had hurt like a motherfucker_.

It was worth it, though. Not even the memory of Oliver's glare when he saw that she went after The Clock King by herself could take that victory away from her. She had defeated the enemy using his own phone and had saved Sara, getting her very first battle scar in the process. _She was badass_.

So, she had decided to let go of those insecurities then. It was short lived, though; she felt other insecurities arise with the discovery about her father and his connections with Anthony Ivo. _Nope, can't go there right now. Think about something else, Felicity, anything else_.

She tried to distract herself by focusing more intently on her hacking. She was going through QC's employees financial records, just in case there was someone on the inside helping Slade. Oliver, being Oliver, had asked her to look into everything about Slade, leaving no stone unturned, but that had been a total bust; there was nothing on Slade to be found, the man was a ghost.

So she decided to start looking into QC; it made sense for Slade to go after the company first. _When plotting revenge, always go for the biggest source of money_. And having an inside agent seemed like the fastest way to do it.

Felicity had obviously started with Isabel Rochev's financials, but they were squeaky clean. Still, it meant nothing; _the evil hag could still be in on it_. Felicity had moved on, though, she hoped that someone had gotten sloppy and that she'd find a clue soon. She startled as she heard a loud thud coming from the mat; Sara had knocked Roy down again.

"_Ouch_. I think you should go easier on him, Sara. Why don't you guys take a break?" Felicity suggested worriedly.

"I'm fine." Roy gritted out in annoyance as he got to his feet.

"Oh, I'm sure you are, but _I_ certainly could use a break. Knocking you on your ass for two hours made me tired." Sara said as she walked over to one of the tables and grabbed a water bottle, winking at Felicity and grinning at Roy's expense.

"Well, don't get used to it" Roy mumbled as he dried his sweaty face with a towel.

Felicity bit her lower lip to keep from laughing, but the urge vanished when she looked at the clock again and frowned. _Where were they?_

As if listening to her prayers, the door of the foundry opened and Felicity sighed in relief, turning to watch her boys walk in. She narrowed her eyes at the Big Belly Burger's bags in their hands.

"You're two hours late." she stated in annoyance and turned back to the computer, resuming her search.

"We took a little detour to get some food, sorry." Diggle explained, handing the bags to Sara and Roy, who quickly began to unwrap and devour the food.

"You know what hasn't ceased to exist during that time? _Cellphones_! Would you _look_ at that?" she said in a falsely cheery tone. "You could've at least texted, but I guess that's okay, it's not like there's a maniac out there who swore revenge against us all or anything." she mumbled sarcastically under her breath, looking up as Oliver approached her desk.

"We brought you your favorite." he said, looking at her with an apology in his eyes.

"You didn't forget the double cheese, did you?" she said suspiciously. "Or my milkshake?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." he responded with a smirk, handing her the food bag. "And we brought peach cobbler for dessert, from that bakery in King's Avenue you like."

"_Huh_." she took the bag. It wasn't an apology, but she had learned how to read Oliver's ways of saying 'sorry'. "No food near my computers, you know the rules." she said to the room in general and saw Oliver trying to hide a smile; he knew he was in the clear with her_. Damn that man and his baked goods bribery_.

"Yes, ma'am." Roy replied.

"Aren't you guys eating?" Sara asked and took a bite of her sandwich.

"Nah, we already grabbed a bite as we waited for rest of the food to get ready." Diggle said and Felicity noticed how he shared a look with Oliver. _Shady_. She'd have to ask them about it later.

Felicity, Sara and Roy ate in comfortable silence as Oliver and Diggle warmed up for the patrol. Too soon they all left and it was just Felicity in the foundry; alone with her thoughts and worried about her friends. She guided them through the coms like she had always done, but, somehow, it didn't feel like enough.

Slade was unpredictable and could attack at any time; it was like they were just waiting for the other shoe to drop and Felicity hated it. Thankfully, the streets were quiet tonight, though, and the rest of the team didn't need her help much, so Felicity got to continue her analysis of QC's employee's financials.

Digging a little deeper, she found that a few of the heads of departments had off-shore accounts; which wasn't that surprising. These kinds of people usually created off-shore accounts to hide funds from their spouses in case of divorce. _Typical_. One account in particular caught her attention, though; it belonged to Richard Duncan, head of the Production Department at QC. Mr. Duncan was a serious traditional man; and he had never liked Oliver much, Felicity could tell.

The account had caught her attention because, although there were several transfers, there was one reoccurring income from a company called Kane Industries. Felicity was in the process of cracking their surprisingly strong firewall when the sound of the door opening startled her; the rest of the team had returned. She ignored it, though. She was _this_ close to cracking the firewall and couldn't afford to be distracted.

"Come on, _come on_" she muttered as her fingers flew over the keyboard. "Oh, _no_, you don't." she mumbled angrily as the system fought her invasion. A few lines of code later: success. "Yes!" Felicity screamed, pumping her fist in the air.

"D'you beat that Candy Crush level you were stuck on?" Dig joked as he descended the stairs, followed by Oliver.

She turned in her chair and smiled brightly at them. "No, I've just cracked this nasty firewall. And I'll have you know I beat that level _days_ ago, thank you very much."

"You made a code for it, didn't you?" Oliver asked knowingly as they approached her.

"That I did." she admitted, blushing, and rushed to explain herself "But that game is a work of the devil, it was made to lure poor gamers into buying boosters to beat otherwise unbeatable levels and it _had_ to be stopped. Besides, I only used the code on _one_ of the levels, ok? It's not like I'm _cheating_ or anything, and even if…" she trailed off, pushing her glasses up her nose and feeling her face heating up as she noticed the amused looks on her friends' faces. "Never mind. Where are Sara and Roy?" she asked, trying to change the subject and avoid further embarrassment as she turned back to her screens and continued her work.

"They're gone for the night. Sara was meeting her father and Roy went to see Thea." Oliver answered.

Felicity relaxed at the familiar sounds of Oliver and Diggle moving around, putting away their equipment and chatting about the patrol. She only half listened to their conversation as her attention was once again on the screens. She started perusing Kane Industries' records, finding that it was a subsidiary of Auditore Inc. _I've heard that name before_, she thought.

Her heart started racing when she found where she knew the company from, but she continued checking a few more things before saying anything.

"Guys, you need to see this." She called out and Oliver and Dig approached her. "You know how I've been researching about Slade-"

"Did you find anything?" Oliver interrupted her, his eyes going wide.

"No, that was a fail." She said dismissively. "But, and don't freak out, I've decided to look into QC's employees to-"

"Felicity!" Oliver interrupted her again in exasperation.

"I _know_, I know it would look bad for you if anyone found out, but no one's _going_ to. I wouldn't get _caught_." she assured him, a little offended that he'd think otherwise. "Just hear me out. I've found something." she said before he could start arguing and Oliver tensed.

"Is someone who works for me helping Slade?" Oliver said angrily.

"I'm not sure yet, it might not have anything to do with him, but it's still something we need to look into. I started with the heads of department and Richard Duncan, the Head of Production, has an off-shore account that caught my eye. There are monthly payments from a company called Kane Industries, see?" she pointed to the documents in her screen. "Kane Industries was a subsidiary of Auditore Inc., which, in turn, was bought by Stellmoor International three years ago." she let that sink in.

"Isabel Rochev's old employers?" Dig asked, frowning.

"Exactly, but get _this_: Auditore Inc. and all of its subsidiaries got shut down a year and a half ago after a huge embezzlement scandal broke out. It was all over the news back then." she explained.

"I think I remember that. They tried to pin it on the factory workers because the white shirts were altering productivity numbers and pocketing the money, right? Those _bastards_." Dig said darkly.

"Yep, and guess who got fired because of it? I'll give you a hint: looks like a supermodel on the outside and like the Wicked Witch of The West on the inside." Felicity said, raising her eyebrows.

"Isabel, she was VP of acquisitions." Oliver concluded and she nodded. "So, what are you saying?" Oliver shook his head in confusion "Is Isabel using a ghost company's name to pay off QC's Head of Production?"

"Looks like it, but for what?" Dig asked.

"I have no idea. I've looked, but there's no proof that _she's_ the one making the transfers. They go through too many servers, there's no way to follow the money trail." she explained.

"Okay." Oliver said slowly as he thought. "We need to go over QC's records, then, focusing on Duncan's work. This proves that Isabel is up to something, it can't be a coincidence. We need to find out what it is."

"For the record, I totally called that. I told you the bitch was evil." Felicity said matter-of-factly.

"It's not that surprising, considering Oliver's dating history." Dig teased smirking, which earned him a glare from Oliver and a suppressed chuckle from Felicity.

"Let's just hope Isabel hasn't also decided to get into bed with Slade." Oliver said darkly.

Felicity shuddered at the thought. Both at the literal one, which, frankly, _ew_; and at the figurative one. If Isabel and Slade were working together, they were in an even bigger mess than expected. She couldn't help but feel like the turmoil was just getting started.

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><p><strong>A.N: So... Make a girl's day and review? Thoughts? Suggestions? I'll also accept food. <strong>


	8. Chapter 8: Belief

**A.N.: Hello! I'm so excited whenever I post something!**

**First things first: _misschristy_, my loyal reader, you're a cupcake, and this comes from a girl who loves cupcakes! I'm so glad you think I'm getting the dynamics right. Especially concerning Dig, I was really worried I wasn't doing him justice, so it's a relief. I can't tell you much about the fallout after Felicity finds out everything, but it's gonna be a pain. I'm dreading the day I write that, because I don't like seeing my babies suffering *sad face*. **

**That being said, today's chapter got away from me. I was planning something light, but it got heavy, dark and intense. It's Oliver's fault, really. Up side: my Olicity feels leaked all over this chapter and I couldn't contain them (sorry, not sorry)! Oliver is starting to accept his feelings for Felicity and to see how good they'd be together. We'll see how she's feeling next chapter, hopefully, though I can't promise anything. **

**Oh, and there are a lot of answers a dots being connected too. Well, I hope they connect, I got a little lost when I was writing it, not sure if it makes sense. Tell me if it doesn't make sense!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, Arrow owns me. **

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><p><em>Belief: Trust, faith, or confidence in (someone or something).<em>

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><p>"<em>Ugh<em>, Oliver, I need a break. We've been at it for _hours_." Felicity said tiredly and leaned back against his chair; she was seated behind his desk, her laptop open in front of her and folders scattered all around it. "_Huh_, yet another thing I've thought I'd say to you in a totally different context."

Oliver took his eyes off the files he had been reading for the past twenty minutes, while sitting at the couch in his office at QC, to raise his eyebrows at Felicity, enjoying the blush that colored her cheeks when she realized what slipped through her mouth.

"I'll work on my brain to mouth filter when I'm not sleep deprived, okay?" she said while avoiding his eyes, mumbling something about maybe sewing her mouth shut when she thought he couldn't hear.

It was getting difficult for Oliver to ignore Felicity's occasional sexual innuendos. Lately, he found that her words amused him less and, instead, made him more antsy. Every time she let something like that slip, his mind would betray him and paint the exact picture her words described. Right now, he was trying not to conjure the image of a sexually satisfied Felicity in his bed, but he was failing miserably.

Oliver blamed it all on the secret he was keeping from her. He couldn't stop thinking, or feeling guilty, about it; therefore, Felicity was constantly on his mind, even more than usual. He caught himself studying her more often; the way she'd push her glasses up her nose when she was nervous; her smug smile whenever she was in hacking mode; how she'd swing her foot rapidly from side to side when she was impatient; little things like these.

His new favorite was her reaction when she caught him staring, though. The first few times, she'd just look at him in puzzlement and ask if there was something on her face, but he'd just smile and say no. Eventually, she stopped asking and started pretending she didn't notice his eyes on her, which made her fidget and blush a dark shade of pink, sometimes while tucking her hair behind her ear and other times while biting her lip; Oliver was always torn between finding it adorable or arousing.

To distract himself from those thoughts, he offered to drive her home so she could get a good night's sleep for the third time in as many hours, to which she just waved a hand in dismissal. They were alone in his office while Diggle was on watch duty at the Queen Mansion; Oliver didn't want to risk the safety of his family with a bloodthirsty Slade out there, and he relied on Dig more than ever to protect them when he couldn't.

Felicity and he had been going through the company's files related to Duncan's or Isabel's work, trying to see if there was any concrete evidence to their theory that Richard Duncan was working with Isabel to take down his company or that Isabel was actually working with Slade. So far, they had nothing; and it was starting to get on his nerves.

"I'm running a search through our online records now." Felicity spoke while she typed "The program I created will look for any transactions related to Auditore Inc., including its subsidiaries, and cross reference with QC's acquisition and sales contracts dated back to the time Isabel started here. Hopefully, something will come up".

"Yeah, I'm not a hopeful kind of guy; haven't been for a long time. I'm a fighter kind of guy. And I can't _do_ much when I don't even know who the _fuck_ I'm fighting." he said angrily and threw the files he had been reading at the coffee table. "Slade is a ghost and God knows how many people he's been controlling or for how long." restless, he got up and started pacing.

"He clearly found a way to stabilize the mirakuru, since it hasn't killed him yet, and he's trying to make more of it." he went on, frustration making his blood boil. Feeling suffocated, he took off his suit jacket and tie, unbuttoning his collar, and threw them both on a nearby chair.

Felicity got up from his chair and walked around the desk until she was standing in front of him, looking at him worriedly as he continued talking "He obviously hasn't done all that by himself, so who else is on his side? How big is all this?" he unbuttoned his white shirt's cuffs and rolled up his sleeves, finally feeling like he could breathe.

"Oliver, we're gonna find answers." Felicity assured him. "It might take a while, but we can _do_ this. You've beat him once, you can do it again." If those words came from anyone else, he'd dismiss them as platitudes, but Felicity didn't do that. If she was saying that, it was because she meant it; it was because she truly believed in him.

Oliver simply sighed and sat on the couch again, putting his elbows on his knees and interlocking his fingers. He wasn't a talker by any means, but seeing Felicity's worried gaze, he felt like he owed her an explanation for his behavior. "It's just that… I thought that I would be able to stop looking over my shoulder after I left the island." he said quietly, staring at his fingers, as she approached him and took a seat beside him on the couch. "I thought I'd get to live on my terms for once and now..." he trailed off, thinking about his time on the island, back when Slade was still a friend.

"Slade was a big part of the reason I survived that place; he made me who I am today. He was a friend before he became an enemy." he looked at her "I was a clueless spoiled rich kid and he was a seasoned fighter; he taught me how to fight, how to strategize. Having him back… it makes me feel like that stupid kid again." he said, the last sentence coming out through gritted teeth. Oliver fell silent and he could tell Felicity was pondering his words. He was afraid he had overwhelmed her with his confession and was about to apologize when she spoke again.

"Did you know that when we first met I looked you up? I came across a lot of compromising youtube videos." she said amusedly "I thought you were a lot creative back then, though kind of childish, let's face it." she smiled, rolling her eyes, and he frowned. "I especially liked one in which you and Tommy drove a small boat through the middle of a sports car racing competition; you'll have to explain that one to me someday, by the way."

"Felicity, I don't-" Oliver started speaking in confusion, though he smiled at her mention of one of the pranks he pulled with Tommy.

"What I'm trying to say is: you were never clueless or stupid." she cut him off, her voice serious "I didn't know you before, but, from what I've seen and heard… you were just lost, Oliver. You were trying to find yourself. And you _did_." she stared fiercely into his eyes. "You went through hell to do it, but you did it. _You_. And it wasn't because of Slade; he didn't _make_ you. You've made yourself; you became a hero on your own."

She was wrong; he hadn't done it by himself. Without her and Dig, he would still be that guy who shot arrows first and asked questions later. She was his compass, pointing him in the direction he was always meant to go, but could never find. Oliver could only look at her and contemplate how lucky he was to have her in his life, all the while fighting an overwhelming urge to kiss her.

"You owe him nothing and you have no reason to feel inferior." Felicity continued "You're the bravest person I know, Oliver, and you said it yourself: you're a fighter. So we're just gonna have to keep fighting. And you _have_ to be hopeful, because we're gonna get through this".

Oliver took one of her hands in his, giving in to his need to touch her, and stroked her knuckles with his thumb as he spoke lowly "I don't know what I'd do without you, Felicity. I didn't do it on my own, by the way, you made me want to be better." realizing how heavy his words were and how startled she looked, he amended. "You and Dig. You put me in the right path. And I never thanked you for that."

"You don't have to thank me for-" she started speaking and looked away from him, blushing furiously.

"Yes, I do." he squeezed her hand once and her gaze flitted back to his eyes "Thank you, Felicity. For everything."

"You're welcome." she whispered with a small smile, which he couldn't help but mirror.

He took a moment to appreciate how beautiful she looked right now, with a shy smile and blushing cheeks; her blue eyes shining and her golden hair tumbling down her back. He wanted to kiss her. _Bad_. He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her face. Her lips, painted bright pink tonight, kept drawing his attention.

He could feel the air thickening around them, he wondered if she felt it too. He still held her hand and he knew her pulse had started speeding. She stopped smiling and licked her lips; he knew he should do something before he snapped and just kissed her senseless.

The sound of Felicity's laptop pinging brought both of them back to earth. She cleared her throat and got up to see what it was, leaving him on the couch feeling a little relieved and a lot annoyed. He wondered what she would do if he threw her offending laptop out the window.

"Oliver, you should see this." Felicity interrupted his thoughts. He went to stand behind her and leaned over to look at her laptop's screen, putting one hand on the desk and the other on the back of Felicity's chair.

"The program I was running? It picked something up. Four months ago QC signed a sales contract with Levesque Enterprises, which, by name, has no relation with Auditore Inc." Felicity started explaining and pointing at different documents on the screen. "But turns out it's registered to the same address as Valdez Industries, one of Auditore Inc.'s old subsidiaries located here in Starling. A quick research also showed me that Levesque Enterprises' CEO is actually a sixty year old man who works in a funeral home in Central City." she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Levesque Enterprises is a shell company." Oliver concluded.

"Bingo, and it gets better. The object of the contract was lab equipment and the dates match with the time when production started going down in QC's main factory." Felicity said excitedly. "Do you remember that meeting with the heads of department a few months ago?"

"Duncan brought up at the time that production was down by 30% and let me think it was a problem with the workers. Isabel even helped reinforce that thought, probably to keep me from looking too closely at the production records." Oliver said thoughtfully as Felicity typed, different windows blinking on the screen of her laptop.

"And turns out he was lying. He modified the records. I've found the originals in his files, now that I know what I'm looking for, and production was only down by 13%." she said.

"He's embezzling the money." Oliver said "Duncan says production is down, gets the board to authorize and release the money for an unnecessary boost in production that never gets done, and keeps the money. He'd only have to alter the numbers back to show good results later, it's the perfect plan." Oliver started thinking aloud as he paced the room again.

"But there's nothing in Duncan's bank transactions that indicates that he's pocketing the money, I've been over those a hundred times" Felicity said as she frowned.

They both stayed deep in thought for a moment until something occurred to Oliver. "What if he wasn't pocketing the money?" he stopped in front of his desk and looked at Felicity. "If Levesque Enterprises is a shell company, who's funding it?" he said suggestively.

"You don't think…" Felicity trailed off and her eyes widened. "He's using the embezzled money to fund the shell company. He's buying QC's own products with your own money! Oh my God, that's genius!" she exclaimed. He lifted an eyebrow at her and she winced "And completely horrifying… what I mean is that I'd be impressed if I wasn't outraged, that's what I meant" She pushed her glasses up and started typing again.

"Now we should check the specifics of the contract, find out who was in charge of it, who arranged the first meetings, who was responsible for the shipments, anything. I want everyone involved with this out of my company." Oliver said severely.

"Way ahead of you." Felicity said as she typed "The original contract has been redacted; there are parts of it blacked out."

"Great. Another dead end." Oliver huffed.

"Not so fast. I'm pretty sure I can fix it. Have a little faith in yours truly, will you?" she said with a grin, then blushed and stopped typing. "_Not_ that I'm, you know, _yours_, because that would mean that you're _mine_ and imply that we belong together somehow, which…" Oliver smiled at her, making her even more flustered. She laughed nervously and rambled on "…and you don't belong to anyone, since people are their own and no one should be treated like property, 'cause if they did we'd go back to _slavery_ and that's… just… awful. Oh my God, a bolt of lightning on my head you'd be welcome right now." she finished, muttering the last sentence under her breath and pressing her lips together to keep from talking as she went back to her search.

Oliver simply stared at her with a fond smile,;he couldn't help but feel delighted whenever Felicity started rambling. It was invigorating to be around someone so honest. He smiled more often around her; some days, she was the only reason he smiled at all.

No, belonging to her wouldn't be like slavery; he'd never compare it to hard unwanted work. He had a feeling that belonging to Felicity would be the easiest thing in the world; it would never bring him down, it would make him lighter. To belong to Felicity… it would feel like freedom.

"Felicity." he called softly to get her attention and her eyes locked with his. "Belonging to you could never be a punishment." He knew he shouldn't have said it, but he did it anyway, and the brilliant smile she gave him in response made him glad he did it. She cleared her throat and looked back to her laptop. They were silent, and after a few moments of Felicity typing and Oliver pretending not to stare at her, she gasped.

"What?" Oliver asked as he circled around the desk to stand behind her again and stared at her laptop's screen.

"We've got her!" she said and started laughing "Oliver, we've got her! I've ran a program through the redacted contract and it showed me the original text, look. Isabel signed it!" Oliver gaped in surprise and smiled widely as Felicity continued typing rapidly "In fact, from what I've found, she was overseeing the whole thing! There's a whole paper trail of documents from Levesque Enterprises with her name on it, like the company is actually active. There's no way she's not in on it! YES, the bitch is going down!" she screamed, fist-bumping the air. "Can I tell her? Please, let me tell her, I wanna see her face when-"

"We can't say anything yet." Oliver said and continued before she could ask why "You said Levesque Enterprises is located in Starling, right? And for all intents and purposes, the company is still active?"

Felicity nodded. "Yeah, the paper trail is all here. Employers, employees, products, payment, shipments, everything. They even have electricity records." she explained as she clicked through the documents.

"Then I want to see the place before we do anything. If there's something being done there, I want to know what it is." he said, his mind racing.

"Lab equipment, that's what they were buying. The mirakuru. _Slade_." she said angrily and looked at him.

"It's a possibility." he said.

"You're right. We check it out tomorrow, then." Felicity said.

"No, there's no time to waste, I need to go in tonight." Oliver said as he started walking to the door.

"Without Dig as back up? No freaking way, you're not going there alone." Felicity replied as she got up and walked over to him. He sighed and turned around, ready to reassure her he'd be fine, but she didn't let him. "_No_, Oliver. Absolutely no. You're not going in there tonight. You're sleep deprived, you're tired, Dig is not here and Slade has that _crazy_ people juice on his blood, there's no way you're going." she argued, poking him in the chest with her finger for emphasis.

"Feli-" he started.

"Tomorrow night. We do this tomorrow night. As a _team_." she said fiercely, her eyes daring him to disagree.

He clenched his fists and his jaw. He wanted to argue with her, he wanted to go right now and get this all over with. His rational mind told him she was right, but every cell in his body was thrumming to go and look for a fight, to end this tonight. He had been frustrated with the lack of answers for so long and, now that they were finally getting somewhere, he wanted to get there fast.

He was brought back from his thoughts by the feeling of her hand on his clenched fist. He expected her to say more to convince him not to go, but she only said one word.

"Please?" she asked softly.

And one word was all it took. He relaxed his hand and squeezed her fingers, looking into her worried eyes.

"Okay. Tomorrow night." he agreed.

She smiled lightly. "Good." she walked to his desk and started gathering the folders. "Now we just need to tidy up everything, put the files back in place so Isabel doesn't suspect we were snooping, and we can finally go home and go to bed." she froze when she realized her words and turned to look at him.

He smiled. "Separately. Meaning you go to your bed and I go to mine." He said amusedly, predicting her line of thought and preventing a ramble.

"Right." she said and nodded once.

They finished getting everything back to its place and Oliver drove Felicity home. As he was driving back to the Queen Mansion, he thought back to their night together; they had discovered a lot more than he expected tonight. They worked well together. Oliver was still in awe of how much Felicity believed in him.

Her belief only made him feel guiltier for keeping things from her. He decided right then and there he'd tell her his story with her father as soon as they got back from the mission tomorrow. Then, he'd finally be able to breathe again.

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><p><strong>A.N.: Say something, I'm giving up on you *sings sadly* Seriously, review, please. Oh, friendly reminder that english is not my first language, yay! Until next time.<strong>


	9. Chapter 9: Confusion

**A.N.: Hello again! I got FOUR reviews for chapter eight and I feel successful, YES! Thank you to those who reviewed and also to those who didn't review but are following the story!**

**_mjf2468:_ I'm glad you like it! I also love the Olicity moments, though there's gonna be some Olicity angst before we have more cuteness, since there's a lot to happen. Bear with me if you can!**

**_bdbouchra_: Je ne parle pas couramment le français, mais j'ai étudié le français pendant un an et je suis heureuse parce que je vous comprends! Felicity ne va pas leur pardonner facilement, elle sera colère pendant un certain temps! Did I say that right? Sorry if my french sucks, LOL! Don't worry, Felicity won't forgive Oliver and Dig right away, they hurt her feelings and she will be mad for a while, which will lead her to distance herself from them and make some choices on her own. I can't say anything else! I hope you enjoy the rest, I'll try my best!**

**_Carfa_: You're awesome for reading it!**

_**misschristy: **_**Oliver will open his eyes soon, though there's angst to be had before it, beware! Also, I hadn't heard anything about a new love interest for Felicity until you said it, but I'm NOT amused. I'm excited that Oliver's gonna ask her on a date, though! I've listened to Pentatonix's version of Say Something and it was SO AWESOME, I CAN'T EVEN! You were right, it changed my life and I'm obsessed with them and I blame you! **

**On other notes, this chapter has taken forever and it's long and it might be boring. It was gonna be even longer, but I've decided to split it. **

**In which Felicity is having a crappy day. It's all about her, by the way, since I said we'd see how she's feeling. I got carried away writing Felicity being Felicity! ****A****lso in this chapter: Barry Allen! I love him, if you don't love him, I'm sorry. **Next chapter will feature the rest of this day and stuff will happen, so don't give up on me, folks!****

**Enjoy!**

****Disclaimer: These characters are not mine, but I do love them. ****

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><p><em>Confusion: lack of understanding; uncertainty.<em>

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><p>Felicity woke up with a start when her alarm clock started ringing loudly. She groaned and reached blindly for it, turning the offending thing off. She sighed and silently debated the pros and cons of staying in bed a few more minutes. In the end, her guilty conscience didn't let her sleep and she got up. She put on her glasses and checked her phone; thankfully she hadn't missed any phone calls or texts from Oliver or Digg. She checked her tablet next, monitoring the foundry's security system.<p>

Satisfied that everything was in order, she headed to the kitchen and got started on a pot of coffee. Leaving the pot brewing, she opted for a quick shower, washing away the last traces of sleepiness. By the time she got out of the shower, she was feeling a lot less sluggish, though she knew she'd only feel like herself after a cup of coffee.

As she got dressed for the day, Felicity let her mind wander to yesterday's discoveries. They finally had proof that Isabel was working against QC. Isabel's days as queen of the high horse parade were numbered and Felicity couldn't wait for it to happen. She chuckled, imagining herself dramatically entering a board meeting and uncovering Isabel in front of everyone, throwing files at the table and yelling _AHA_. Oliver would probably be the one doing that, in a less theatrical and totally boring manner, obviously, but a girl could dream.

Thinking about Oliver made her feel all kinds of things she shouldn't be feeling. Something had shifted yesterday, though she he was not sure what. She could no longer deny the charged energy that ran between them. Before, she would've chalked it all up to sexual tension, but, after last night, it would be a lie. Their connection had intensified. _Scratch that, her Oliver awareness radar had gone completely nuts_.

He had opened up to her in a way he had never done before and it had warmed her heart to know he trusted her enough to tell her about his insecurities. And she had actually been able to comfort him, which she was incredibly proud of, considering how much she had struggled to stay coherent, and to focus on his words, when they were sitting in such close proximity on that couch.

Then he had taken her hand in his large, warm, ones and thanked her for helping him become a better person. Felicity didn't want to take credit for that, but she wouldn't deny how moved she had been by his words. And the look he gave her... it was so intense she thought she would drown in it; his gaze was pulling her in and she wanted to kiss him, to find out if his lips were as warm as his hands. Her pulse had sky rocketed and her breathing had become heavy. It was like there wasn't enough air around them...

She had put on her favorite gray pencil skirt and was halfway through buttoning her pink blouse when it occurred to her: _did I imagine everything?_ Last night, she could've sworn Oliver wanted to kiss her, but now she wasn't sure. Could her ever confusing feelings for him be clouding her judgment of the whole situation?

Felicity remembered how her heart had skipped a beat at the thought that he wanted to kiss her. Her mind had started working furiously, forming one question after another: _Does he wanna kiss me? Do I want him to want to kiss me? Do I wanna kiss him?_ Realizing the answer was yes to all those questions, she had involuntarily licked her lips and his gaze had flitted to her mouth; she had looked at his mouth in return... then her laptop had pinged. _Damn that thing_, she had been so ready to smash it with her heel.

Felicity shook her head to disperse those images and finished applying her make-up, heading to the kitchen afterwards. She poured her coffee in a to-go flask and took the donuts she had bought yesterday out of the fridge, taking a bite to test if they were still okay to eat. They were a little hard, but she wouldn't have time to make something else for breakfast or buy fresh baked goods, so she just put them in a little bag to eat it at work with her coffee.

Looking at the clock, she cursed. She wasn't late; she just wanted to arrive earlier. If they finished their work for the day early at QC, they'd have more time to prepare for their mission at Levesque Enterprises tonight. And something told hear they could use the preparation.

She went into her bedroom to get her purse and electronics, returning to the kitchen to pick up her food before leaving her apartment. She mentally checked if she had everything while she walked down the street to her car.

Felicity knew Oliver and Dig would happily pick her up if she let them, but she preferred driving herself. Spending all of her time around stubborn men was too much sometimes. She liked the small freedom of driving; it gave her more time alone with her thoughts. Besides, her car held sentimental value, signifying the first step into the creation of Team Arrow and all that.

The thought of her first days after knowing Oliver's secret made her reminisce on their time together. All their experiences fighting crime and the obstacles they faced, it all made their team stronger and brought them closer. But the kind of closeness she had with Oliver was entirely different from the closeness she had with Dig, she couldn't help but compare.

John had always been a good friend; they had just clicked together that way. He was like a big brother: she knew he would always look out for her in every way and he wasn't scared to call her bullshit when needed. Oliver though… Oliver was something else. There had always been something unsaid between them; both knew this unidentifiable connection existed, yet neither ever mentioned it.

She couldn't explain it, it was just natural. Oliver made her feel safe and cared for, something she had always secretly craved. She had always acted tough, like her mother's carelessness and her father's abandonment couldn't bring her down. The truth was: it nearly did.

There was a point in her life where she believed her life in Vegas was all she'd ever have; she had been ready to give up MIT to live a pasty little life she had never wanted, all because of her fears and insecurities. It took her a long time to build up walls high enough to shield her from herself; to learn how to believe that her parents' mistakes were their own and that the fault was no one's but theirs.

Once she started believing in herself, though… Felicity took the world by storm. MIT was a huge part of that. Being constantly challenged and recognized for her brilliance helped build back the confidence her parents had destroyed. Some would say that she was a little too confident, but she didn't care. _She embraced her own awesomeness and everyone else would just have to suck it_.

That didn't mean that her insecurities weren't there, though. The suspicion that her father was actually an evil scientist right out of a comic book story didn't help with that. Thinking about her father made her confused. _Where had he been all this time? Why did he leave? Was he even alive? Was he one of the bad guys? What was his connection with Anthony Ivo and the mirakuru?_ She didn't know any of that. She had so many questions and, yet, she was terrified of the answers.

She had been searching for him. She didn't mention it to Oliver and Dig, because they had too much to worry about already, but she wanted to find her father. She needed to know everything. The weirdest part: there was little to none to be found about him. It was like he had vanished of the face of the earth; there were no records of him after his time at S.T.A.R. Labs.

Felicity had started to think that this whole thing ran deeper than she ever imagined. The way her father's records had been scrubbed from every database she could find, it had professional written all over it. The question was: _why?_ Better yet, one of the questions. Some of the others were: _was he working for someone powerful or was he running from someone powerful? If so, why was he running? What had he done? Or what hadn't he done? _

As she arrived at QC, she stopped that train of thought. She didn't want to get a headache so early in the day. She parked her car and walked the few steps to the elevator, getting in and pressing the button to the top floor. Having a parking space closer to the elevator: one of the perks of being Oliver's EA. On the down side, there was the gossip. Felicity was well aware of what was said about her in the hallways; she knew they thought she had slept her way up to the top.

In the beginning, it had bothered her, but her reputation wasn't high on her list of concerns these days. _They can think whatever they want._ She didn't understand how they thought she was at the top, though. In her opinion, being basically a secretary with an MIT degree was a new low. Then, again, she was over it, having more important things to worry about.

Getting to her desk, Felicity started working immediately. She wanted to sort out Oliver's schedule for the day before he got there, so that they could leave early tonight. She sent a few emails and made a few phone calls, using the sweetest voice she could manage to cancel meetings, making sure she didn't ruin business with important people.

She was about to get started on her breakfast when the phone ringed. It was the IT department; they needed her because one of the programs she created had crashed and no one else knew how to fix it. She didn't mind helping the IT department, she was excited whenever they asked for her help, but today was _so_ not the day for this. She needed things to be smoothly on schedule and it didn't look like it was gonna happen.

She went there, deciding that it was better to do it herself than to explain it over the phone. It took her five minutes to fix the problem and twenty minutes to make them understand how she had done it. All the while, her mind was on her day old donut, which sounded like a banquet now that she was starving.

When she finally got back to her desk, she promptly grabbed her coffee and donut, but was interrupted again by the phone. She groaned and put her head on the desk, reaching blindly for the phone and answering it with her forehead still firmly pressed to the glass table.

It was from the Acquisitions department this time, asking about the emails she had sent an hour ago. She was annoyed, having to explain a self-explanatory email in which she asked for copies of contracts that needed to be reviewed by Oliver, _how hard is that to understand? _

After she was done with the phone call, she took her flask and sipped her coffee, sighing at the taste and not even caring that it was lukewarm. Sweet nectar of the gods, she thought. When she was about to take the first bite off her donut, the elevator pinged, announcing someone's arrival.

"Oh, for the love of-" Felicity said angrily, cutting herself off when she saw that it was Oliver and Dig.

"Good morning to you too, Felicity, I see you're looking cheerful today." Oliver said teasingly.

"Oh, _save_ it. It's been a crappy morning. I'm starving and people keep interrupting when I'm trying to have breakfast, so _do not_ get under my skin." she warned, with a finger pointed in their direction, and took a huge bite off her donut, chewing angrily.

"Good thing we stopped by the bakery, then." Dig said with a smirk on his face, presenting her with a box of warm blueberry muffins and a cup of hot coffee. She eyed her day old donut for a moment and tossed it unceremoniously in the trashcan, putting her flask of lukewarm coffee aside and reaching for the fresh food and coffee they brought.

She took a few bites off the muffin and sipped the coffee. Felicity thanked the boys quietly and sighed, closing her eyes and feeling herself getting back to normal as she ate. She was halfway through the cup of coffee and had two bites left of the muffin when she realized Oliver and Dig were still standing in front of her desk, with identical smirks on their faces. She blushed.

"Not a word." she said and pointed to them again "I'm in coffee heaven right now; your conceited smiles can't reach me here."

"I wasn't gonna say anything." Oliver said with a soft smile and walked towards his office. "Finish your breakfast. I'll get started on reading those balance reports. Just come in whenever you're ready so we can make plans for tonight."

When Oliver went into his office, Dig turned to her. "Oliver filled me in on what happened last night."

Felicity froze and almost choked on the muffin she was eating. _Did Oliver tell Dig about the sorta-kinda-almost-kiss-moment they had? _She took a sip of her coffee. _Felicity, be cool for once in your life_, she told herself.

"Did he? What did-" she cleared her throat "What did he say?" she asked, trying for nonchalance and failing miserably.

Dig narrowed his eyes at her. "He told me what you guys found out last night. About Isabel and Duncan embezzling money from QC and the shell company we're gonna check out tonight." he looked at her curiously. "Why? Is there something _else_ I should know?"

"Of course not." she answered nervously and he frowned "What else would he have told you? There's-there's nothing else to tell. I mean, that's _all_ that happened last night, we made a lot of breakthroughs and found out… things. This muffin is _really_ good, by the way." she took another bite and quickly finished her food and coffee, dumping the empty cup and muffin wrapper in the trashcan while ignoring Dig's curious gaze. _Crap, he's onto me_. "We should start planning for tonight." she said as she took her tablet, got up and crossed her desk, heading to Oliver's office.

"Uh-huh" Dig hummed, he put his hands in his pockets and followed her "You're gonna tell me later."

"Not a chance." she whispered harshly and walked faster into Oliver's office.

"All right, I'm ready." Felicity announced and Oliver looked up from his papers.

"Is _mean_ Felicity gone?" Oliver asked amusedly.

"Mean Felicity?" she asked with frown on her face.

"You get mean when you're hungry." Oliver explained.

"Do not." she scoffed and turned to Dig. "Back me up, Dig."

"When you were hungry last week you used your loud voice to ask if exercising was making our body fat percentage proportional to our number of brain cells." Dig said pointedly and Felicity snorted.

"Yeah, that was great one; my comebacks were on fire that day." she said smiling, and then shook her head. "Anyway, you guys deserved that, you touched my computer and messed up the program I was running."

"You were running a search for a youtube video about a _cat_." Oliver deadpanned.

"It was a funny video, okay? I saw it once and couldn't find it again later." Felicity said heatedly and blushed at Oliver's and Dig's grinning expressions. "_Whatever_, we don't have time for this. I sent the building's schematics to your email, Oliver."

He turned serious with the change of topic and opened the file on his computer.

Oliver cursed. "The place is huge, it might get complicated if they have a lot of security."

"They're not using all of it, though." Felicity said. "I saw from the records that their electricity is being used solely on the south side of the building, so we won't need to bother with the rest."

"In that case, we should split, Oliver. I'd take the ground floor and you'd take the roof." Dig said and Oliver nodded.

"Good thing there are only three levels. It'll be easier that way." Oliver commented.

"I can hack their security feed and loop it." Felicity said. "That way I can also keep an eye on you from the van. One of you can put a transmitter on one of the cameras and I'll do my magic." she paused. "If they have cameras, that is. There are no records of it, but I'm willing to bet they do have it."

"I can do it. I'll put the transmitter on one of the outside cameras before I clear the ground floor. I have a feeling we're gonna need the element of surprise." Dig said.

"That settles it, then." Oliver said.

"Hold on, aren't Sara and Roy gonna be there tonight?" Felicity asked.

"No." Oliver answered. "Roy is still unstable because of the mirakuru, I want to keep him out of confrontations. And Sara…" he sighed. "We don't know what we're gonna find tonight, but if we're right and Slade is there, I don't want him near Sara. He thinks I chose her over Shado; he'll kill her in the first opportunity he gets."

"Sara might not like it when she finds out you're trying to protect her." Dig said.

"Oh, she's gonna hate it." Oliver agreed. "But I'm not gonna bring her, Roy or anyone else into this until we have more information or at least some kind of plan on how to take Slade down."

"Anyone else? Who else would you bring into this?" Felicity asked puzzled.

"Right." Oliver said as if remembering something. "Sorry, it completely slipped my mind." he looked at Felicity. "Barry Allen woke up from his coma; he came to see me last night."

"_What_? Oh my God!" Felicity exclaimed and started pacing the room, her heart beating rapidly "And you just _forgot_ to say anything? _What the hell_, Oliver, you don't just forget things like that; you forget things like-like to turn off your lights before you leave!" she took a deep breath. "When did he wake up? And why did he come to see you?"

What she really wanted to ask was: _why didn't he come to see me?_ But she thought it would be too awkward after last night. Though she had abandoned all hopes of something happening between her and Barry, due to his apparently complicated feelings for Iris and to her definitely complicated feelings for Oliver, she still cared for Barry.

"He woke up about a week ago. He's been… going through a few changes. He wanted some advice. I really think you should ask him about it, but…" Oliver answered vaguely and trailed off. Felicity crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow, waiting for him to explain. Oliver sighed. "He woke up with superpowers. He can run incredibly fast."

She exchanged a look with Dig.

"What?" Dig asked skeptically.

Felicity kept quiet as she processed the information. She would think that he was joking, but this was Oliver talking.

"I know how it sounds, but I've seen it. It's like a blur when he's running, you only see it if you look for it. Something about the particle accelerator changed his metabolism." Oliver explained. His voice was normal, but Felicity could see in his eyes how impressed he looked. "He wants to use his powers to help his city. He was insecure about being a hero."

"Well, he came to the right person for help." Felicity said confidently and Oliver smiled at her.

"Wait, you said you wanted to bring him into this?" Dig asked curiously.

"I've considered it briefly. We could use all the help we can get, especially if it comes with superpowers." Oliver said in a serious tone "I won't do it, though. Barry has too much on his plate right now, I couldn't ask him to fight my battles. Besides, he has his own city to protect."

Felicity smiled at Oliver's change of behavior towards Barry. A few months ago, he was adamant about not trusting Barry, now Oliver had considered asking for his help, and it made her proud to see the positive change. It wasn't just about the superpowers, Felicity knew. It was the fact that Barry wanted to protect people, like Oliver does, like they all do. She understood Oliver's reasoning for deciding not to involve Barry, though. She was having difficulties wrapping her head around the idea that Barry had superpowers; she couldn't imagine how he was feeling.

"I'm gonna go call him, if you don't mind me leaving. It looks like my part is done here anyway. You guys can discuss the rest without me, right?" Felicity asked.

"Sure." Oliver answered briefly and turned back to the building's schematics, but she didn't miss the annoyed look that passed his eyes.

She left the room and sat behind her desk, taking a deep breath before grabbing her phone to call Barry. She scrolled down her contacts and hesitated when she found his name. _Does he even want to hear from me?_ It seemed like he had a lot going on at the moment, she didn't want to intrude. Besides, they had left things kind of in the air before his accident.

She shook her head and dialed Barry's number. She'd get over whatever awkwardness there was if it meant she could talk to him again; his friendship was too important to her.

"Hello." Barry said when he picked up and tears formed in her eyes. She couldn't speak.

"Hello? Felicity? Caller ID is a thing, you know." he said jokingly and she laughed.

"I'm sorry, it's just really good to hear your voice." she said between sniffles.

"It's good to hear from you too. I've been told you came to visit." Barry said softly.

"Yeah, we said we'd stay in touch and suddenly you go and get yourself into a coma. You could've just told me you lost my number or something." she joked and immediately hit herself in the forehead. "_Oh my God_, Barry, I'm sorry. That was terrible and unthoughtful, you almost _died._ Just forget I said anything." she said in a rush and was relieved when he laughed it off.

"Don't worry, Felicity, I'm not offended. It's refreshing to have someone talking to me without walking on eggshells." he assured her.

"Well, you know me, eggshells don't stand a chance." she said nervously, still embarrassed about her joke. "How are you?" she asked seriously.

"I'm… adapting. Yeah, adapting is the best I can come up with." He said with a sigh. "I assume Oliver told you everything?"

"He did and I have a few things to say about that. First of all: the fact that you didn't come to see me? _Rude_ much?!" she mocked chastised him "But I've decided to forgive you for this little mistake in light of more pressing issues, which brings us to second of all: you have _freaking superpowers_, how cool is _that_?! You _have_ to show me." she said excitedly and he laughed.

"I know, it's pretty cool, right? I feel like I'm going crazy." Barry said and proceeded to tell her everything about his new-found powers.

They talked for a while and Felicity had the opportunity to ask all her questions, reveling in the opportunity to get away from her worries. She had never had many friends, and her nightly activities prevented her from letting anyone get too close to her. It was good to have someone else to talk to besides Dig and Oliver, who were definitely _not _known for their conversational skills.

She hung up with a smile and promises to call again soon and to think about Barry's offer of spending a few days in Central City, though she doubted she would actually go. Felicity put her phone down and looked up to see that Oliver was standing in the doorway to his office staring at her… _longingly_? She couldn't be sure; the look vanished from his face as soon as she caught his gaze.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt." he said, his voice betraying no emotion. "The first meeting of the day is in ten minutes, we should probably get ready."

"Sure, I'll get the paperwork. The sooner we finish this, the better." Felicity said and stared at him, trying to see if she'd catch a glimpse of that look again and wondering if she had imagined it when all she saw was a blank mask.

"Yes, thank you." he answered and turned around, taking one step into the office before turning back to her and clearing his throat "How's Barry?"

Felicity was surprised by the question, considering that it looked like it pained him to ask it. "He's doing well." she answered, smiling slightly at the fact that Oliver was trying to be nice to Barry for her sake, though she was still puzzled about his behavior.

"Good." Oliver nodded and walked back into his office.

She sighed and grabbed the necessary paperwork. When it was time, they headed to their first meeting. _It's gonna be a long day_.

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><p><strong>A.N.: Reviews mean to me what coffee means to Felicity! <strong>


	10. Chapter 10: Destruction

**A.N.: **ducks from all the rotten fruit thrown by the crowd** Wait! I'm sorry! I can explain, I swear! ****a tomato hits me in the face******

**I know, I know. It's been a long, long time and I'm ashamed. I've been busy with my stupid life and stupid, stupid, responsibilities. Besides, I had a serious blockage with this chapter. I had the idea, but I had trouble writing it, so it was a painful process. At one point I was like 'I hate this chapter, I hate it, this is the worst, I just want it to end'. I hit a dead end when I had to write the fight scenes and it hit me that I had never done it before and didn't know how to do it, so I kinda stopped for a while. BUT, I persevered and here we are. I still think it sucks, but you'll be the judge of that. **

**It's a really long chapter, by the way. It was supposed to be longer, but I cut it. **

**Oh, I haven't had time to follow Arrow lately, I've only watched episodes one and two (SARA, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, MY BABY, YOU'RE ALIVE IN MY HEART! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS), and I have only seen some stills of the other episodes, so no spoilers, please!**

**It's been a long time, but I must answer you:**

**- To _Ripplerose:_ YES, there's so much angst, it's frustrating. I try to write a light and fun Oliver, but I can't, I'm like "yeah, he'd never say that. ever". The angst is REAL, my friend. Thank you for the review!**

**- To _misschristy_: Thank you again, your words make me float! I'm also a huge fan of Barry. He's too adorable, one can't simply not like him. I plan to include him again in this story later on! I love Felicity's friendship with Dig too, they have a special relationship and I hope I can do it justice in the future. As for your last question, I'd LOVE to write for The Flash, but I have no time at all, it makes me miserable. Besides, I have only seem the pilot, I must catch up and determine which ships will break my heart on this one!**

**- To everyone: Thank you for not unfollowing this story! I have no clue when this will be updated again, I'll be honest. There's this huge test I'm studying for and it requires my full dedication. I have hope that I'll get to finish this story eventually, though. I hope you guys decide to stick around.**

**WARNING: Violence (kinda). Angst (lots). Olicity fluff (always!). **

**Disclaimer: IF I OWNED ARROW, I'D TREAT SARA LANCE WITH RESPECT.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><em>Destruction:The action or process of causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired.<em>

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><p>Oliver looked at the clock and willed it to go faster. His goal was to finish everything in the office by four o'clock and head to Verdant, but it was no longer an option, since it was already five thirty and this man <em>could not stop talking. <em>He had already skipped lunch in order to anticipate two meetings with investors and get this day over with, but it wasn't enough. If he didn't cut this short, he'd probably be stuck at QC until nightfall.

He had given up listening to Mr. Anderson, who was responsible for the Purchase Department, thirty minutes into the meeting. The man was carefully disguising his attempt to get a raise with concern for the state of the company's warehouse capabilities, and Oliver was tempted to fire the greedy bastard on the spot, but didn't think it would help increase his popularity at QC.

He tuned the man's voice out instead and let his mind drift. He went over tonight's mission and its contingency plans twice in his head. He tried not to let it show, but he was worried about what they'd find at Levesque Enterprises. By the end of the night, they needed to have solid proof that Isabel was involved in yet another embezzlement scandal, so that he could show it to the board of directors. More importantly, they needed to confirm the theory that she was using the embezzled money to help Slade produce the _mirakuru_ serum.

Oliver had never thought he'd wish for someone to steal his money and just keep it; the alternative of Isabel using his own money to fund an enemy's quest to destroy his life and his city was far too disturbing. Isabel had a strong hold on QC; the board thought she was the best thing to happen to the company since his father's death. If she was helping Slade and they couldn't get proof of the embezzlement, Oliver knew it would be a matter of time before they took over his father's legacy.

The question was: _why?_ He couldn't come up with a single reason why Isabel would want to destroy him. It seemed excessive for her to go to those lengths only to take control of his company, since there were easier ways for her to do that. Exposing him as the Arrow would be one way to do it; if she was working with Slade, he had to assume she knew about his secret. If she was only interested in the company, she would've taken it from him already, so this had to be personal.

That was as far as he had gotten. He concluded that her motives were personal, but, other than that, he had no clue. Isabel's past was a mystery, and Oliver knew he'd give himself a headache before getting even close to understanding why she was working against him. Even if she wasn't working with Slade, the embezzlement was proof enough that she wanted to ruin him; and he had no idea why.

He tried to focus on the man in front of him, who was still talking non-stop. Whenever he paused, Oliver made a noncommittal grunt and it was enough to set him off again. He managed to pay attention to Mr. Anderson's words for about ten minutes, but his attention drifted again when Felicity, who was seated at her desk, ran a hand through her hair and sighed in frustration.

Knowing she had had a rough morning, Oliver only required her presence in his first two meetings of the day, opting to tell her she didn't need to be in the next ones. Since he knew she wouldn't accept the break without a good reason, he asked her to go over the paper trail they had on Levesque Enterprises, to make sure they weren't missing anything. He was regretting that decision now, seeing that she seemed even more frustrated than before.

At least he was able to make her morning a little bit better by telling her about Barry Allen's recovery. After dropping Felicity off last night, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. That moment they had in his office had been playing over and over again in his head. He had been _this_ close to saying _screw it_ to all his reasoning. He had almost kissed her and the memory of it was burning itself into his brain. How her pulse had been racing beneath his hand; how her eyes had made it impossible for him to notice anything but her; how her bright pink lips had parted when she exhaled and caused a rush of desire to course through his veins…

Resigned that he wouldn't be able to sleep, Oliver had decided to go patrolling again. He had stopped a burglary and was watching as the police picked him up when his phone rang and Barry Allen of all people was on the other end of the line, awake and wanting to meet him. He thought he had been surprised that the kid had woken up, but nothing could have prepared him for the superpower news.

Once the shock wore off, they had had a good conversation. Barry was a good man; he had his heart in the right place. The fact that he wanted to use his new powers to help his city was an indication of that. Oliver had given him advice and a push in the right direction, secretly glad that the he decided to come to him for help.

He was also glad that Barry had woken up, but not so thrilled about what it would mean for Felicity. Would she want to pursue a relationship with Barry now that he was awake? He would be lying if he said it didn't worry him, but he couldn't do anything to stop it. Felicity deserved everything good in this world, and he was sure he couldn't give her that; he had nothing to give her. If someone like Barry could, he wouldn't stand in the way; he had been selfish enough with her already.

Oliver was brought back from his thoughts when Felicity moved her head and caught his eyes. She raised her eyebrows questioningly, to which he responded with what he hoped was a pleading gaze that said _get me out of here_. She smirked at him, got up from her desk and entered his office, knocking softly on the door.

"Excuse, Mr. Queen. I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Weasley is here to see you about the contracts that were signed this morning." Felicity said in her most professional voice, but he could see her lips quirking up.

"Thank you, Ms. Smoak." he told her with a grateful smile and turned to the man in front of him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Anderson, but it appears I have an emergency to deal with, I'm sure you understand. We'll continue this discussion another time."

"Absolutely, Mr. Queen." the man said with an unsatisfied expression and left.

Oliver waited until the man was out of the room and turned to Felicity.

"Do we even know a Mr. Weasley?" he asked amusedly.

"Of course we do. He's Ron's father." Felicity said and grinned.

"Maybe we should call him. I could use a flying car right now, anything to get out of here." Oliver said with a sigh.

"Did- did you just make a Harry Potter reference?" Felicity said in awe. "Wait a second, not only did you understand my reference, but you also made one yourself?"

"I used to read it to Thea." he smiled, recalling the memories. "I used to wait until after her bed time to go out to party, so that I could read a chapter to her every night."

The loss of his easy relationship with Thea was one of the things he mourned the most after returning from the island. His sister used to think he hung the moon and now he could barely stand to have a conversation with her. Oliver hated lying to her about himself, but it was even worse having to keep a secret that affected her as deeply as the one about who her real father was. He had taken to avoiding her so he wouldn't have to lie to her more than he had to. It was cowardly, but it was better than the alternative; he was afraid he would lose her for good if he had to lie to her one more time.

Breaking out of his thoughts, he looked at Felicity and she was smiling tenderly at him.

"You're a great big brother, Oliver." she said kindly.

He ducked his head, thanking her quietly, and gathering the papers scattered across his desk to hide a blush. Not a blush, a slight moment of self-consciousness. _Oliver Queen does not blush_.

"No, she just loved it because I made up these- these ridiculous voices and I'd dress up as Harry Potter to act out the funny parts." he replied, shaking his head dismissively as he chuckled.

"It seems silly to you now, but I'm sure it was everything to her then. I would've traded my spare computer parts to have someone act out scenes from my favorite books to me when I was younger." she said, her voice full of longing, but her kind smile and teasing tone returned when he caught her gaze. "You can deny it all you want, but you're a big softy when it comes to the people you love."

He smiled, appreciating how good it felt to share with her the part of himself he thought he had lost somewhere along the way; the part that could make him feel light again. That's what being around Felicity did to him, he realized. It lifted some of the ever present weight off of his shoulders, it gave him hope. That had never surprised him, though. It was the effect she had on everyone, he guessed; she brought lightness and sunshine everywhere she went. What had surprised him was the urge he had to know everything about her in order to do the same for her; to make her happy.

This urge had crept up on him. It had started with little things, like making her smile by bringing her favorite dessert or by teasing Diggle, which he knew she found amusing. With time, he noticed that the day he couldn't get a smile or a laugh out of her was not a good day; it didn't feel complete. That was when he realized he wanted to be the reason behind her smile. Not only that, he wanted to know about her past, to find out every single thing that made her happy; he wanted to know what happened in her life to make her into such a wonderful person.

Oliver didn't think he had ever felt this way, not even with Laurel. He had never felt this need to know everything about someone; to be as close as he could get, knowing that it wouldn't be close enough.

Noticing that he had been staring at Felicity intensely for far too long, and that she was returning his gaze, Oliver promptly cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"Are you and Diggle ready to head out?" he asked.

Felicity blinked a couple of times, like she had also been lost in thought "You still have another meeting." she reminded him.

"Cancel it. If I stay here any longer, I'll punch the next person who walks through that door in the face." He said as he loosened his tie.

As if on cue, Diggle walked in and Felicity chuckled at the coincidence.

"Hey, Felicity." He greeted, stopping in front of his desk, and turned to Oliver. "D'you know what time you said we should start the recon on the building?" he asked pointedly, not waiting for an answer "Eighteen hundred hours. D'you know what time it is? Eighteen hundred hours."

"I _remember, _Diggle. I'm just running _late_." Oliver said through gritted teeth as he gathered his belongings.

"_Clearly_. Just get a move on, the two of you. I'll bring the car around." Diggle said and left without an answer, mumbling something about how 'running late' wasn't an excuse in the army.

Felicity threw an amused glance his away and went to her desk to pick up her things.

Five minutes later they were making their way out of the building and entering the car. As they headed to the club to start preparations for tonight's mission, Oliver tried to ignore the bad feeling forming in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

><p>Oliver took a deep breath and jumped off the roof, using his bow to slide down the rope he had already hooked between the building Diggle had chosen as vantage point, for surveillance purposes, and Levesque Enterprises' facility. He hit the ground running and quickly merged with the shadows behind one of the tall steel chimneys that covered the rooftop.<p>

He peered around the chimney and did a quick headcount of the guards positions, surveying their positions. Like Dig had assessed before, there were five guards spread around the edge of the roof, gaze pointed outwards and clueless to Oliver's intrusion. Their plan was made possible by poor security placement; with a roof this size on the south side of the building, there should have been at least seven guards at all times in order to have everything covered.

Oliver pulled out his tranquilizing arrows and shot the first two men, the ones closest to him and who were out of the others' line of sight. The rest would take a bit more effort, since they were all near each other and he couldn't take one down without the others noticing.

He ran towards one of them, a big guy with an eagle tattooed on his neck, and punched him in the face, knocking him down long enough for Oliver to release an arrow into another guard's chest, making him drop to the ground. He turned to the third guard, a dark haired man who was running to him with a fist raised. He blocked the man's punch and grabbed his shoulders to knee him in the gut, but the man anticipated his move and spun out of his grasp, delivering a blow to his back.

Oliver fell forward and immediately rolled on the ground to face the man, using his momentum to kick the guard in the chest. He got up as the man few and released an arrow into him, rendering him unconscious. Feeling the tattoo guy he had punched coming up behind him, Oliver turned around and, registering a gun pointed at him, reacted quickly by grabbing the man's hand and pointing the weapon sideways as he used his bow to hit the guard in the face again. The man stumbled back disorientated and Oliver used the opportunity to push a tranq dart into his neck.

He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and pressed his earpiece, speaking quietly.

"The rooftop is clear." he informed

"Took you long enough." Dig muttered, but he could hear the relief in his friend's voice.

"The ground floor?" Oliver asked as he moved towards the door to gain access to the lower levels, knowing that the guards he left behind would be down for at least thirty minutes.

"Also clear. Only three guards at the south entrance. I put the transmitter on one of the cameras and Felicity is working on them and on jamming their radio signals." Dig explained.

"Correction, Felicity was done with all that in exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds and is currently _bored_, so if you don't mind moving this along, boys." Felicity interrupted, speaking matter-of-factly.

"Yes, ma'am." came Dig's sarcastic reply.

"Talk to me, Felicity." Oliver said as he carefully opened the roof's door.

"All right, it's show time." Felicity said quietly, as if speaking to herself. "Looks like whatever shady thing they're doing is happening at the second floor's east wing, since I can't detect any cameras there. If there are any, I can't access them. I'd have to hack their mainframe to get the feed _and_ the recordings from their archive. I'm assuming we're gonna need evidence tracing back to when it all started?"

"That's right. Can Diggle put another transmitter on the mainframe to give you access?" Oliver asked as he descended the stairs to the third floor.

"Uh… Yes… but isn't this why I'm here for the mission? In case I needed direct access to anything?" Felicity asked slowly and uncertainly.

_No_, Oliver answered in his mind. He wanted her here because, while he dreaded the idea of her working in the field on this particular mission, he also didn't want her to be alone at the club tonight, where he couldn't reach her in a matter of minutes.

"It'll be faster this way." he insisted.

"But he'd still have to help me with a few things while he's in there, I'd have to talk him through it. _And_ he has his part of the plan to complete. You'd have no back up for a while and security is heavy around here." Felicity argued in frustration.

"I can do it, but she's right, Oliver." Diggle warned in his best _think-this-through-Oliver_ voice. "These guys are not your average security guards. Some of them have military training; I'm sure you've noticed."

"I've noticed. Let _me_ worry about that." he said in a tone that left no room for arguments "Take care of the cameras, we need those images. Come find me when you're done, Diggle. And Felicity-"

"If you're thinking about ordering me to stay in the van and not even blink without consulting you, you'd better think again." she said angrily "Don't think for a _second_ that I don't know what you're trying to do by keeping me out of the building. Don't expect me to stay here and do nothing if things take a turn for the worst, because I-"

"Felicity" he cut her off in a soft tone; her bravery never ceased to amaze him. "I was gonna ask you to skim the files you've already accessed, to see if there's information we can use in them. Do you mind?"

"Yes- I mean no, of course I don't mind." she assured him flippantly. He could tell she was dying to keep arguing with him.

"Thank you. And Felicity?" Oliver said.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Please, stay in the van." he asked her calmly, but seriously, and she huffed in annoyance. He couldn't help asking, though he knew it infuriated her. He'd deal with her being mad at him as long as she was safe. "You have permission to blink freely, though." he said to break the ice and grinned when she mumbled 'ass' under her breath and sighed. It wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no either. He'd take it.

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><p>Oliver was standing on a walkway, doing his best to blend with the shadows, as he gazed down. The rectangular structure was built near the high ceiling of a spacious room on the second floor's east wing; he guessed it was used for security purposes as well as circulation. Having already cleared the few guards that stood there, he was waiting for Diggle to arrive so that they could start attacking the heavier security on the ground.<p>

To the right side of the room, he could see four scientists working on different tasks in front of a fully equipped workstation. Two of them were monitoring a complicated distillation equipment that stood on a granite counter, filled with what he guessed was the _mirakuru_ serum, and comparing notes. A woman was mixing colorful liquids in a graduated cylinder while a man handled test tubes that he was taking out of one of the several freezers located behind them. The left side of the room appeared to be used for storage purposes. He could see cardboard boxes and bubble wrapped lab equipment piled up in front of four unused tall metal boilers; leftover machinery from when the company was active, Oliver guessed.

The worst part was in the center of the room, though. On an elevated space, a complicated machine distributed the _mirakuru_ serum evenly into the veins of three men while another scientist checked their vital signs. It was all clear to him now. Slade was not only trying to stabilize the serum, he was also trying to improve it enough to make a mass production of it and create an army of super soldiers.

"Okay, it's done." Felicity's voice sounded through his earpiece "Dig put the transmitter on the mainframe and I'll have visual of your location in five, four, three, two… Mother of crap!" she said in surprise and Oliver knew she had accessed the room's camera feed and could see what he saw "What the hell are they doing to those men? Is Slade aspiring to be Dr. Frankenstein or something?" she whispered, sounding horrified "I bet Isabel is his monster. Well, minus the green skin part and the weird thingy on the neck part, of course, but I'm sure that-"

"Felicity." he cut her off.

"Right. Focus. Sorry." she said and took a deep breath. Oliver could imagine Felicity shaking her head to help clear it, like she always did. "I've backed up their research files as well as their security footage and Dig took care of the guards who were monitoring the cameras; he's on his way to you. We'll know if there's anything valuable to help us against Isabel when we go through all of it later, but, for now, we have what they have."

"Thank you, Felicity. Keep an eye on the cameras for any surprises." Oliver replied.

"I'm on it." she answered.

"Dig, I'm gonna need your help for this, you'd better be on your way." Oliver said as he devised the quickest strategy to take out the guards. "There are nine guards in here and there are three men being injected with the _mirakuru_. It looks like they're unconscious, but I can't be sure."

He didn't answer, so Oliver tried again. "Diggle? Where are you?"

When his friend didn't respond, Oliver frowned. He was ready to ask Felicity for his last location and had started to picture the building's blueprint in his mind when Diggle answered.

"Hang on, I'm a little busy at the moment" Diggle said with a grunt and Oliver sighed in relief. From the sounds coming through his earpiece, Oliver knew Dig was in the middle of a fight. He was about to offer help when he saw Isabel walk into the room.

She was dressed unusually. Instead of a pantsuit or a dress, she was wearing black leather clothes, similar to Sara's outfit as Black Canary, except it was a full body suit that zipped up to her neck and had details in orange. She was also wearing black gloves and a belt that carried several knives and more weapons were strapped to her back. It all seemed to be inspired by Slade's Deathstroke suit.

He had had little doubt that Isabel was helping Slade, but having confirmation was something else entirely; he didn't know what to make of it. Judging by her outfit, he had underestimated her in more than one way. Oliver watched as Isabel made her way to the scientists on the right and spoke quietly to them.

"Okay." Diggle panted, his voice coming through the earpiece harsh from exertion. "ETA five minutes."

Oliver realized Isabel's instincts were sharper than he thought when she started scanning the room with narrowed eyes, as if she could feel the weight of his gaze on her. He knew it was a matter of time before she spotted him.

"Better make it three. Isabel is here and I think we underestimated her." he said as he scanned the room one more time.

"On my way." Diggle answered.

Before Isabel could see him, Oliver took aim and let three arrows fly in quick succession, making three guards drop to the ground unconscious and causing mayhem. While the scientists ran towards the exits, Oliver quickly made his way to the left side of the walkway; he could hear Isabel yelling for the guards to stop him. The men being injected with the _mirakuru_ remained, thankfully, unconscious.

"Felicity, kill the lights and trigger the evacuation alarm." he said and she acquiesced. Bullets chased him as he ran, letting his arrows fly and hitting two more guards. Less than a minute later, the room was in the dark. Seconds later, the emergency lights went on, bathing the room in a red glow, and the alarm blared loudly.

"Oliver, you're gonna have more company soon." Felicity warned as he watched Isabel give the guards orders to stay and look for him. "There are three guards heading to the south entrance of the room and two more coming through the east."

"I'll take care of them." Diggle said before he could answer. "I'll need some guidance, Felicity."

"Yeah, yeah, just one sec." she said and he could hear her fingers typing furiously "Turn left, keep walking straight until you pass three corridors, and then turn right. You'll bump into the first two." she took a deep breath "Are you good on your own for a while, Oliver?"

"Positive. Just cover for Dig. I'm shutting off communications now. Turn it back on if you need me, Felicity." Oliver whispered in reply.

"Got it. And Oliver?" Felicity said.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Be safe." Felicity ordered and he smiled.

"I'll try." he answered, knowing that it was the best he could promise her, and turned off his ear piece. Glancing down quickly beforehand, he dropped from the walkway to the ground, taking cover behind one of the metal cylinders.

"Spread out." he could hear Isabel telling the guards. "Find him, but don't kill him. We have special plans for the Arrow."

He remained quiet and listened to the guards' footsteps. Hearing two of them rounding the boiler he was standing behind from each side, Oliver turned swiftly to the right and let an arrow loose, hitting the woman in the arm, then spun quickly to punch the man who was behind him in the face. The man got up quickly and managed to throw a couple of blows on Oliver's ribs before he slammed the guard's head on the metal cylinder, effectively knocking him out.

The struggle caught the attention of the two remaining guards, who opened fire against him immediately. Oliver took a moment too long before taking cover, wanting to scan the room for Isabel's location, and a bullet grazed his right arm. Without pausing to check the wound, he took cover between two of the boilers and waited for a break in the succession of bullets. The alarm stopped sounding and the guards halted their movements, distracted by the sudden silence. Oliver took his chance. He left his hiding spot abruptly and threw two darts at the last guards, hitting each one in the neck.

He walked slowly with his bow raised and an arrow notched, glancing swiftly around the room for any sign of Isabel, but he couldn't see her. He stopped next to the elevated platform in the middle of the room and was about to turn on his earpiece and ask Felicity to check Isabel's position through the cameras when the woman spoke from his right, causing him to immediately point his arrow at her chest.

"Bravo, Oliver." Isabel said as she clapped a couple of times. "I had seen videos of the infamous Arrow, but I have to admit your performance is much more incredible live."

"Isabel." he spoke evenly "I suppose business casual is not your style during the night."

"Business casual was never my style, Oliver." she answered and grabbed two broadswords that were strapped on her back, spinning them in each hand. "You just didn't know it." she smirked "In fact, I don't do casual often. I admire commitment."

"Oh, I can see that. You seem committed enough to Slade's cause." he said, anger beginning to tint his tone.

"You think you know a lot, don't you?" she asked. "Slade has the habit of calling you 'kid'. I guess I can see why that is now. You're awfully naïve." he was about to answer when he saw from his peripheral vision Diggle coming in through the south entrance, gun raised.

"Look, the sidekick is here." Isabel said derisively as she glanced at Diggle.

"You really shouldn't have called him that, he hates it." Oliver commented with a smirk.

"It's over, Ms. Rochev. It's in your best interest to surrender." Diggle warned and she laughed.

"I have enough information against you to bury your carrier." Oliver said and saw doubt and fear momentarily cross her features "You'll be out of QC by tomorrow morning, so why don't you save me some time and tell me what I want to know. Why are you helping Slade?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about." Isabel said forcefully "This is just the beginning. I'll leave the ending to Slade; I don't particularly care what he does to you as long as you're destroyed. And when that happens, I _will_ have what is rightfully mine."

"I don't suppose you could cut the crap anytime soon." Diggle said in a bored tone and Isabel glared at him before speaking again.

"Fine." she smiled with an evil glint in her eyes "You want to know why I'm helping Slade? It's simple. His plan is a means to an end to me. I want to see you ruined." she said with a raised voice and took a step forward "I want to see you and your _pathetic_ little family with nothing. I _want_ Queen Consolidated."

"Why?" he asked loudly, his patience wearing thin.

"Because everything that you have was supposed to be _mine_." she said in anger "Robert and I were lovers, we met when I was an intern at QC." Isabel said with a smirk and Oliver was stunned into silence. As she spoke, he slowly lowered the arrow he had pointed at her "He was going to leave you, _all_ of you, to be with _me_." she said in fury.

He heard Isabel's words, but he was having difficulty processing it. He believed her about the existence of the affair, it had been known to happen, but Oliver doubted his father would ever think to leave their family. He knew his father had had affairs, but he also knew that none of them had ever lasted.

"And you call me naive." he said coldly. "You're the fool if you think he would ever have chosen you. My father had many flings. You weren't special; having had an affair with him doesn't make you entitled to my family's company."

"Fling?" she laughed humorlessly "Your father and I were soul mates. He had _already_ chosen me. We were at the airport when he got the call that your foolish little sister had broken her arm." she said in disgust. "I begged him not to go. I reminded him that the little brat wasn't even his daughter, but he went anyway. After that, he refused to see me again and I lost my internship."

His face fell as her words hit him. He knew it was true, then, because he remembered it. His father was going away, supposedly on a business trip, when Thea broke her arm horseback riding. He came back and stayed by her side all weekend, playing with her like he hadn't done in a long time. He had known all along that Thea wasn't his real daughter, but he loved her anyway. He chose to stay anyway. With those thoughts running through his head, he couldn't help his next words.

"Then I'm right, aren't I? You were nothing special to him after all." he said with new resolve and watched her face contort in fury. "In the end, he still chose his family. Whether you like it or not, you were nothing but a fling."

Isabel screamed in rage and charged at him, her broadswords raised. He immediately lifted his bow and released an arrow in her direction, which she deflected with her blades. Before they could collide, a deadly voice he knew all too well spoke.

"Stop." Slade's voice sounded from somewhere behind Isabel and she halted.

Oliver immediately pointed his arrow to the direction Slade's voice sounded from, trusting that Diggle would keep his gun aimed at Isabel. With his senses in high alert, he searched the shadows to try to locate Slade.

"Let me kill him for you." Isabel asked Slade, her burning gaze never leaving him.

"You know I won't let that happen. He's mine to kill." Slade said, stepping out of the shadows and coming to stand behind Isabel. "Besides, it's not his time yet." He said with a smirk. He was wearing his Deathstroke outfit, minus the mask, and Oliver took the moment to study him, making a quick inventory of his weapons.

"Slade." Oliver acknowledged him.

"Queen." Slade said coldly. "Step aside, Ms. Rochev. I'll handle this now." he addressed Isabel. She glared at him, but complied, stepping aside and moving to stand behind Slade. From his peripheral vision, Oliver could see Diggle adjusting his aim to keep the gun pointed at Isabel while simultaneously taking a couple of steps back, giving him a wide berth for his inevitable confrontation with Slade.

"You're a stubborn one, kid." Slade said with a smirk on his face. "I told you that everything would happen on my time, but you refuse to listen."

Oliver chose to remain silent as they started circling each other.

"I hope you didn't come here thinking that your punishment would end tonight, Queen. I assure you it won't be that easy, I'm a man of my word and I promised you pain and destruction." he continued as he moved, his voice hardening.

"I don't care how hard you want to make this, Slade." Oliver said coldly, knowing that it was no use trying to dissuade him. "Whatever you're planning" he paused, waiting until his former friend met his gaze "I'll _stop_ you. And you _know_ I don't break promises either."

Slade chuckled and halted his movements, causing Oliver to stop.

"And how do you plan to do that, kid?" he smiled and started circling Oliver again "You can't defeat me. The one time you almost did, it was by pure chance and you know it."

Oliver had had that very thought often; that he was alive today because of a few close calls. He had beaten Slade once, though, and he could do it again. This time, he would make sure it counted.

"A lot has changed in the last few years." Oliver said, refusing to be intimidated.

"_Yes._" Slade stopped again. "I'm stronger."

Slade charged at him, unsheathing his broadsword, and Oliver blocked the attack with his bow. Sidestepping to create some distance, he released two arrows in quick succession, which Slade deflected with ease. A quick glance told Oliver that Diggle was also in combat with Isabel, but he shut the noise out and focused on his own opponent, who was already rushing forward to attack him again.

Oliver raised his free arm to defend himself from Slade's strike and hit his ribs with the other hand, using the added weight of the bow to his advantage. The blow didn't seem to register on Slade, who delivered a kick to Oliver's right leg, making him grunt in pain and fall to the ground. Rolling away from another kick, Oliver released an arrow and got up in the second it took for Slade to fend it off.

Tirelessly, Slade raised his broadsword again and they exchanged blows, both managing to land a few; Slade's blows resulted in a cut on Oliver's temple and a few bruised ribs. Oliver could tell that Slade had the upper hand; he could feel himself getting winded from the force he had to put behind each hit, which didn't seem like enough to stop his enemy.

To their left, the fight between Diggle and Isabel raged on, and Oliver frowned as he caught a glimpse of Isabel throwing Diggle against a wall. The moment of distraction was exactly what Slade needed, and he used it to slash at Oliver's left side with his broadsword, opening up a shallow wound. Breathless from the blow, Oliver fell heavily when Slade pushed him to the floor.

Oliver put a hand on his wound to stop the bleeding, bracing himself for the next strike. When it didn't come, he looked up to see Slade standing over him, shaking his head in cold amusement.

"The reason you can't beat me is because, like it or not, I still know you, kid. You may think you have changed, but your flaws are still the same." Slade crouched beside him and glanced pointedly at Diggle and Oliver followed his gaze. He saw his friend propped up against the wall, clutching his ribs as Isabel stood over him with her blade raised, his gun was several feet away. "You don't focus on the task at hand, always worrying about others." he paused for a second. "Let this be the first of your many lessons." without turning his gaze from Oliver, he spoke in a deadly voice "You can do the honors, Ms. Rochev."

"No." Oliver whispered as his heart started racing in fear for Diggle's life. He was ready to get up and defend his friend when he saw Diggle reach for the spare gun he had on his back. Diggle glanced at Oliver and he got the message, getting ready to strike Slade at a moment's notice.

The opportunity came seconds later. Isabel looked at Slade for confirmation before attacking and Diggle used the moment to pull out the gun and fire twice at Isabel without hesitation, hitting her in the stomach. The sound made Slade turn his head in surprise as Isabel fell to the ground. Oliver immediately kicked Slade hard enough to make him fall back, his elbows hitting the floor.

Not waiting for his reaction, Oliver got up and ran towards the door as Diggle, who was already standing, fired at Slade in quick succession. Oliver stopped in front of the door and turned back with his bow raised, releasing several arrows at Slade, who was screaming in rage, and giving Diggle enough time to reach him by the door.

"You will pay for this, Oliver Queen." Slade screamed in fury and took a step towards them.

"I'm afraid you don't have the time, Slade." Oliver said coldly. "You have three minutes until this place goes up in flames."

At his words, the evacuation alarms started blaring again and Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Felicity was okay. They turned and ran, following their exit strategy and leaving a raging Slade behind.

As they ran, Oliver glanced at Diggle "You _did_ set up the explosives, right?"

Diggle answered with a glare.

"Just checking." Oliver said and surveyed Diggle's body for injuries. He was still holding his ribs, one of them was probably broken, and there was a cut on his forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy." Diggle said in annoyance and raised an eyebrow "You?"

"Been worse." Oliver answered as they turned another corner and the alarms stopped.

Reaching the abandoned part of the building, where he was sure they wouldn't meet anyone until they got out, Oliver turned on his earpiece and Diggle did the same.

"Felicity?" he asked.

"Just so you know, I am _beyond_ pissed at the two of you for scaring the living daylights out of me just now," she began angrily "_but_, since we don't have time for this discussion at the moment, I'm gonna wait to scold you in person." she finished in mock sweetness.

"Are we cleared for exit strategy A?" Diggle asked.

"Yeah, the path is clear." she explained "There weren't a lot of people in the building when I triggered the alarm again, so as soon as you guys get out we can make the place... well… go boom."

"We're almost there." Oliver said.

"I'll bring the van around." Felicity answered.

They reached a large window on the east side of the second floor and they jumped down quickly after breaking the glass. Oliver winced at the impact on his injured leg, but said nothing as they entered the van.

Felicity turned to look back at them and frowned.

"Any mortal wounds I should know about?" Felicity attempted to joke, but Oliver could see in her eyes how worried she was.

"No. We'll patch everything up at the club." Oliver assured her and she began to drive away.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she looked at them through the rearview mirror "Blowing up the building?"

"You're the one who suggested it." Oliver pointed it out.

"Yeah, I never thought you'd actually _go_ for it." she said and focused her gaze back on the road "I have a lot of crazy ideas. I went through a goth phase and let me tell you: Worst. Idea. Ever."

"You went through a goth phase?" Oliver asked in amusement. "Do you have pictures?"

"Ha. What am I? A newbie?" she looked at him skeptically "Those pictures were erased from the digital world long ago and the physical copies shall never _ever_ see the light of day again. I have means to insure that." she said darkly.

"I have a feeling you were a scary goth." Diggle commented, trying to suppress a laugh.

"You've got to show me those pictures some time." Oliver insisted. He imagined her with dark hair, clothes and make up. It contrasted so much with the Felicity he knew that he couldn't help but chuckle. He _had_ to see it.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." she said with a raised eyebrow and immediately started back tracking. "_Pictures_. I mean your embarrassing pictures, not your- and I wasn't offering to show you my-" she laughed nervously and glanced at Diggle, who looked like he was trying not to chuckle. Oliver was torn between being amused by her rambling and aroused by the scene she was putting in his head.

Felicity took a deep breath. "What I'm saying is that, I've seen most of yours, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of it." she winced "_Pictures._ I'm still talking about pictures." she sighed in defeat as she heard them chuckling. "Let's just blow up this building. We're far enough by now."

Diggle turned on the detonator and looked at them. "Who wants to do it?"

"Oh, let me!" Felicity exclaimed and put her palm up so Diggle could put the detonator in her hand as she drove. He raised an eyebrow, but handed it over.

Before Oliver could say anything to convince her to let him do it instead, Felicity pushed the button. Seconds later they heard the explosion and an orange mushroom cloud could be seen rising high in the sky as they drove away.

"Wow." Felicity said quietly. "I thought I'd feel powerful or something, but I actually feel a little sick." she paused "This is way cooler in the movies."

"It usually is." Oliver whispered as he looked back at the explosion, wondering if Slade had been right and if destruction was all he'd ever know.

They remained silent the rest of the way to the club.

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><p><strong>A.N.: Reviews? Thoughts? A little poem? A pun? Just write something! May the ghost of Sara Lance watch over you. R.I.P, Sara, you flawless angel! I'M STILL SO MAD. Okay, I'm done. Until next time!<strong>

** P.S.: I edited it because I forgot to put the divisions, now it's done, sorry about that.**


	11. Chapter 11: Resilient

**A.N.: HEY! First things first:**

**- To _mjf2468: _Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the fight part, I was so nervous about it. I'm indeed my worst critic. I have to talk myself out of giving up on this constantly, but kind words from kind people like you make it all worth it! I hope you keep following this story!**

**- To _loulounana_: Thank you for reading! (Also, awesome username, it has a great sound to it and I keep repeating it and I'm not sure why I'm telling you this)**

**- To _Megth_: I confess that I had to look up what 'whump' means and the first thing I found was 'the sound an elephant makes when it falls' and somehow I doubted that's what you meant lol, so I found the real meaning and YES, it sums up this story perfectly. There's more Oliver whump to come for sure, poor angel that he is. I'm happy you like the angst, I was worried it was too heavy and boring. Thank you for the review!**

**- To _Lightly Salted Pringles_: Thank you, thank you, thank you! I smile like a crazy person every time I read your review; I grinned so much when I first read it that I was afraid my face was gonna fall off, you're too sweet and too awesome! I hope you enjoy what's to come as well! (Awesome username as well, by the way).**

**- To _August_: Thank you, I'm glad you think so! I try to fit some things from the show in the story, but I do a lot of fact checking first, because of the whole 'is this canon or did I read it on a fanfiction' thing, lol. Thank you again for the review!**

**A BIG THANK YOU AND A VIRTUAL HUG TO EVERYONE ELSE READING AND FOLLOWING AND FAVORITING THIS STORY!**

**Oh, I caught up with Arrow and The Flash and everything is awesome and heartbreaking, therefore, I want more!**

**Back to business. ** clears throat ** This chapter was changed so many times that eventually I got tired of it and said 'here goes nothing'. It was a longer chapter, but I felt like it was better to break it into two so it wouldn't be confusing. The next chapter is almost ready, btw, I should be uploading it in a week or so and then I'll probably disappear for a while because I'll be busy with college soon. **

**In this chapter, you'll see that Oliver is in a bad place and Felicity, like the soulmate she is, comforts him. I realize this happens a lot in this story, but I'm trying to convey that he's slowly getting more comfortable opening up to her and using actual words to do it, since Oliver is a doer not a talker. Keep in mind that the plot here is different from the show, so his emotional state is a little worse. ****I hope I'm conveying all that without writing him OOC, if I'm not, help me! Also, flawless angel princess Sara is in this chapter and I refuse to kill her here, okay? That's just not happening.**

**Ok, about ****the first part of this chapter, I think it must be a common scene in fanfictions, but ****I wrote how I think the scene would go in this particular story. Still, ****I apologize in advance if it's similar to anything you've read before. I promise I'm not trying to plagiarize anyone, I think that's deplorable and I'm very paranoid about it.**

**Finally, I'm sorry for any mistakes you find! I'm also sorry if you feel like I'm taking too long to write about the thing with Oliver and Felicity's father, but please understand that some things have to happen before the big revelation, so that the fallout can also be big and painful (mwahaha!).**

**That being said, I don't blame you if you skipped all that, lol.**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ARROW. (If I did I wouldn't turn Laurel into Black Canary because honestly what the hell? I like Laurel and all, but can't you people keep a female character on the show without turning her into a fighter? A female character other than Felicity, I mean.) **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><em>Resilient: able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.<em>

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><p>Oliver cursed himself for being too early today; Felicity was still awake. She was sitting on her bed, leaning against the headboard while she read something on her tablet. Oliver had spent the last two nights guarding Felicity's apartment while she slept, looking out from the rooftop of the building across the street from hers.<p>

Their mission had been three days ago and he knew that Slade would be retaliating soon. Considering that during their mission he had wanted to kill Diggle, Oliver was worried that the next attack would be on Felicity. The idea that Slade could get anywhere near Felicity was enough to give him insomnia, so he figured he might as well take advantage of that.

He did try to take precautions to ensure Diggle's safety too, just in case. He tried to keep Diggle out of patrol the first few nights after the mission, but that had resulted in nothing but a lot of glaring and sarcastic remarks being thrown his way. He went with a different approach then, ordering QC's security team to keep an eye on him, but Dig noticed it fast enough to make Oliver question his guards' competence. Oliver could still feel the bruises he got from their 'training' that night, in which Diggle told him not to try that again unless he wanted to have his ass handed to him.

He focused on Felicity, then, making sure she was safe at night, since he couldn't convince her to move to a less dangerous part of town; he thought she lived too close to The Glades.

Oliver tensed when Felicity got up suddenly and moved to look out her window. _Did she see something out there? _He cursed himself for not paying enough attention and looked up and down the street for any threats. Not finding anything suspicious, he looked back at Felicity. She was scanning the rooftop he was standing at with a frown on her face, glancing at the tablet still in her hands from time to time.

Oliver was hiding in the shadows and he knew she couldn't see him, so he was surprised by her voice coming through his earpiece.

"Hey, Oliver. Whatcha doing this fine evening?" she asked, her tone tight.

He cleared his throat. _Does she know I'm here? _No, he decided, it was probably just a coincidence. "Felicity. I'm… uh… still at the club. Why? Is something wrong?"

"At the club?" she wondered suspiciously, ignoring his questions. "Funny, my tablet is telling me that you're across the street from my apartment."

He winced internally at being caught. "That's strange. It must be a glitch, then. You should probably fix it-"

"Okay, if you're gonna insist on bullshitting me, I draw the line at you insinuating that there's a problem with my electronic devices. That's just unacceptable." she cut him off crossly and huffed in annoyance. "Just come out of the shadows, will you?" he hesitated for a second, but took a few steps forward to stand in the light.

Felicity locked her eyes on his outline for a few seconds and when she spoke again it was in a soft tone. "He's not gonna come after me, Oliver."

He was rendered speechless for a moment by the fact that she knew him so well. After a long pause, he spoke. "You don't know that."

"You're right." she conceded. "But what I _do_ know is that I'm as safe as I can be here."

"Your building's security is more than lacking and you keep your living room window open." Oliver said pointedly.

"First of all, I like to get the air circulating, okay? There's nothing wrong with that." she said evenly, obviously trying not to use her loud voice. "My apartment is high enough that it makes no difference, you're just being paranoid. Besides, the motion detectors would set the alarm off even if the window is open. And if Slade really wanted to get in, closed windows would hardly stop him."

"It makes no _difference_? What- Felicity, how many times have you _seen me_ get in-" he started to argue, getting agitated by how vulnerable she was in that apartment and how dismissive she was being about his concerns, consciously choosing not to acknowledge how right she was about Slade, but she cut him off.

"_Second_ of all, you know I've designed my own security system; that should be enough to put your mind at ease." she reminded him calmly; though Oliver could hear the frustration seeping in her tone the more she talked. "I even installed panic buttons around the place and connected them to the club's computers _and_ to your cell phone _and_ to Dig's cell phone, but you _know_ all that, Oliver, since I did it after that hour long lecture on how _crappy_ my neighborhood is and how I should move out-"

"You _should_ move out-"

"I'm not _moving out, _okay? That is _not_ up for discussion and-"

"You don't even close your bedroom's curtains, Felicity." he gritted out. "Do you know how easy it would be to shoot you?"

"Fine, then I'll close my _damned_ curtains, okay? Problem solved." she said loudly, throwing her free hand in the air.

"That's not even the point of-" he said slowly, closing his eyes to keep his temper in check.

"Then _what_ _is_ your point?" she questioned angrily and he fell silent "I understand that you're worried and I'm grateful that you care, Oliver, I really am, but you just showed up here and haven't stopped _patronizing_ me since. You're treating me like a- a _child_ that doesn't know what's best and, honestly, it's pissing me off. If I was ever in trouble, you'd know _right away_, so what is-"

"What if I couldn't _get here_, Felicity?" he said, raising his voice for the first time during their argument "Then what? What if I wasn't here in time? What if I couldn't protect you? You've built half of your security on the belief that I'd be here, what if I couldn't?"

She didn't answer immediately and he hung his head. Even though she was too far away to see his face; he was self-conscious of revealing what had been keeping him awake at night.

"Then I'd know you did your best." she said firmly "And I'd know you'd be looking for me."

"That's not enough." he shook his head slowly and clenched his fist, noticing he had been rubbing his fingers together; he had to stop doing that.

"It is for me." she said confidently and he was silent; _it shouldn't be enough, she deserves better_.

"Besides, Sara's been teaching me some moves." She added with a smile and he could hear the pride in her voice "I'm a badass in training."

He smiled slightly at that. "Is that so?"

"Yep." she confirmed and paused, her tone turning serious. "I'm not going anywhere, Oliver."

He sighed, aware of the 'not by choice' she wasn't saying.

"I trust you with my life." she said softly "You have to trust me with my own life too. Keeping me under lock and key is not the way to go here."

Logically, he knew she was right; Felicity was the smartest person he'd ever met. He also knew she wasn't careless about her safety, hence why she was learning self-defense. Besides, he and Diggle had drilled into her brain what to remember in case she was ever in danger at her own apartment.

If Oliver was being honest with himself, the problem was the fact that he couldn't bear the thought of her being in danger in the first place. She shouldn't _have_ to defend herself and if she ever had to, it would be because he failed to protect her.

He trusted her, though. He trusted her above his own fears; that's why he decided to admit defeat.

"You'll close your curtains?" he asked tiredly.

"Absolutely. Every night. Scouts honor. Not that I was ever a girl scout, but whatever." she said contently and Oliver shook his head at how happy she was to win this argument. "You should go home now. I'll give you the lecture on invasion of privacy and boundaries tomorrow, don't think you're not gonna get one, I'm still mad about you spying-."

"I wasn't _spying_-"

"-and while I was _sleeping_? That just takes it to a whole new level that I honestly can't get into right now."

He was about answer when a thought struck him and he asked curiously. "Felicity, how did you know I was here?"

"Uh, I… well, I… check your tracker before going to sleep." she said in embarrassment. "And Dig's too. So… yeah, that's how."

Oliver smiled at her answer.

"It's good to know." he said softly, but couldn't stop himself from teasing her. "Though maybe you also need that lecture on invasion of privacy and boundaries."

She sputtered indignantly. "That's completely different and you know it. Do _not_ get me started on this tonight, I am _warning_ you. Now _go_."

"Good night, Felicity." he said and turned off his com, waiting until she closed the curtains to go home.

* * *

><p>Oliver had been hitting a sandbag at the club's basement for half an hour now.<p>

Slade's retaliation to their attack had shaken Oliver to his core. He had been wrong when he thought Slade would limit himself to attacking the team. Instead, Slade went after his family, he kidnapped Thea. Oliver thought he should've known better. His sister's abduction was slowly bringing forth a feeling he hadn't experienced since Tommy's death: desperation.

He wanted to be out there looking for his sister, but he was deemed a liability by the rest of the team when, after sixteen long hours of dead ends, he beat three of Slade's men into a pulp in search for information on his sister's whereabouts.

With the encouragement of his friends, Oliver had spent the rest of the time since then with his mother, taking comfort in the fact that Diggle, Sara and Roy were, with Felicity's help, canvassing possible places Slade could be using to hold his sister.

He only left his mother's side when Felicity called him with an update of a possible way to find Thea's location. Oliver had been sick of sitting there doing nothing and took the opportunity to get away, even though Felicity warned him it would be a while before she had any results on her search.

He used that time to burn the nervous energy he hadn't, couldn't, show in front of his mother by punching the bag as hard as he could, picturing Slade's face.

Thea's kidnapping had blindsided him. He had thought his family was safe; he had put heavy security around them to make sure of that. It wasn't enough, though. Oliver wondered if anything would ever be enough to stop Slade.

"How much longer, Felicity?" he asked evenly, not stopping his exercise. One-one-two. One-two-three. One-one-two. One-two-three. The repetition helped to calm him; he didn't have to think, just concentrate on the sequence.

"It might be a while. I couldn't find Slade's car's plates by the traffic cameras, so I'm looking one by one at the pictures taken from the cell phones of everyone who was at the club when he kidnapped Thea." she explained and sighed "It's a long shot, but it might pan out. I just have to find that car."

Oliver stopped punching the sandbag and turned to look at her. He couldn't believe what she was doing for Thea. While he was barely functioning, Felicity was tirelessly working to find his sister. He walked closer until he was standing in front of her computer; he should help her, it was more productive than punching a sandbag.

"Before you offer, no, you can't help." she said, glancing at him briefly. "Sorry, but I don't think you can concentrate right now."

He decided not to distract her by arguing and walked past her to get a water bottle he had left earlier at the table he usually uses to fashion his arrows. He drank deeply and looked at his Arrow outfit; he should be out there with the others. Oliver was about to suit up and leave when Sara's voice came through the computer.

"Felicity, we didn't find anything." she said in a serious tone and Oliver squeezed the plastic bottle in response. "We've already canvassed half the city and there's no sign of Thea. We're on our way back now to figure out a strategy; running around blindly isn't helping."

"Roger that." Felicity said quietly

Oliver only registered that he had thrown the water bottle across the room when Felicity jumped up from her chair with a yelp at the noise. He took a couple of steps back and started breathing heavily as Felicity approached him, looking as dejected as he felt.

She paused behind him and started to wring her hands together "Oliver, you have to stay calm, okay? We're gonna find her. I'm gonna try something else, maybe if I…"

She continued talking, explaining what she could still do, but, for once, Oliver didn't listen to Felicity; he couldn't listen. He turned his back to her. All he could hear was his blood pounding in his ears. He started picking at the gauze he had wrapped around his knuckles earlier; tearing at it angrily, frantic to distract himself with the task while he calmed down. It was done too soon, though, and he was still breathing heavily, like there wasn't enough air around him. The sound of his heartbeat was still too loud in his ears and all he could focus on was the image his mind had created of Thea dying while he was helpless to stop it.

Before he managed to hold himself back, with one swipe of his hand he pushed to the floor everything that lied on the closest table and pounded the surface with both hands a couple of times in anger. The pain helped him reign in his emotions a little, so he braced his hands on the table and hung his head, taking deep breaths.

He knew this wasn't the answer, but he had been bottling up all the desperation he felt since the moment he heard about Thea's abduction, and reacting physically was the only option he had other than falling apart, which wasn't an option at all.

Oliver felt Felicity's tentative hand on his left shoulder and closed his eyes, her warmth bringing his heartbeat slowly back to normal.

"I'm sorry, Oliver." she said shakily and he shook his head; it wasn't her fault. "I'm sorry I'm taking so long to do this. I'm not gonna stop trying, not until we find her, I promise I-"

"Felicity, don't." he cut her off and rested his right hand on top of her own. "It's not your fault, I know you're doing the best you can; you all are." He turned to face her, still holding tightly onto her left hand. "This is my fault."

"Oliver, no." Felicity said forcefully "Slade is the one to blame here, not you."

"Is it, though?" he wondered aloud. "Ever since the island, this has been my life. Death follows me, like it still wants me to pay for my sins." he cleared his throat, trying to clear the lump that was beginning to form "It's like I'm Atlas, trying to hold up the weight of the sky, only it keeps- it keeps falling on top of me, because I'm not strong enough. How do you escape when the sky is falling, Felicity?" he asked in a hollow voice and searched her eyes, hoping they could calm the torment inside of him, even if for a few seconds.

"You don't." Felicity answered kindly, her eyes shining with compassion, and squeezed his hand. "You can't get out from under a falling sky; you have to let it crush you. And you're gonna have to feel all the pain and it's gonna suck, but… it has to happen, because you're not a titan, Oliver, you're only human." he looked at his feet then; he didn't want her to see how dangerously close he was to his breaking point, her strong grip on his hand the only thing keeping him together.

"And all this pain and this weight you feel?" she said, touching his cheek for a second to make him look at her and dropping it to his shoulder afterwards "It's not gonna kill you." she searched his eyes for a second "Because that's the thing about being human, isn't it? We're resilient." she paused "And we're kind of assholes. And we don't care about the environment as much we should, but that's not the point." She shook her head and took a deep breath "The point is: we're survivors. We do great against the odds. So, if the sky starts to fall, just let it; feel the pain. And then… then you learn how to get up again."

She took a step closer to him, closing the distance between them so that she was only half a foot away, and Oliver found himself mesmerized by the determination and strength he saw in her eyes "_We_ learn how to get up again, because, whatever happens, you're not gonna go through it alone, Oliver. Your whole team is here. _I'm_ here. I'm not going anywhere, remember?"

Oliver could only stare as her words sunk in, along with the realization that he was in love with this woman; and that he didn't deserve her. He cursed himself for ever thinking that, in the long run, this life of fighting crime would be too much for her, that his presence in her life could possibly destroy her.

He had been wrong, he could see that now. She was the only fixed point in all this chaos. Oliver had thought that relying on her with all his heart, sharing the darkest parts of himself with her, would only cause her to drown with him. It was the other way around, though; Felicity had been keeping him afloat all along. She kept him from drowning in the nightmares his own mind created. She gave him hope that he was strong enough to lift himself up, that he could be the hero she believed him to be.

He had been a fool to think that keeping her at arm's length would also keep her away from his heart. She had gotten there a long time ago and he hadn't even realized it, perhaps since the moment they met. He smiled fondly at the memory.

"Did I ever mention how remarkable you are, Felicity?" he croaked.

"You've remarked on it before, but it's always good to hear it again." she said with a nervous smile.

He wanted to kiss her. As soon as the thought came to the forefront of his mind, he could feel the air thickening with tension. Oliver watched as different emotions passed through her eyes until he found the one he hoped was there. Was it there or was he projecting? If someone as good as Felicity could love him, maybe he had a chance; maybe he wasn't doomed to a life of misery and sacrifice.

The need to kiss her was so strong that he found himself cupping her face with the hand that wasn't holding hers. He watched as her breath caught and her eyes fluttered when he caressed her cheek with his thumb.

"Uh, by the way, when did you get acquainted with Greek mythology?" Felicity asked in a breathy tone and laughed nervously, her fingers flexing on his shoulder. "I mean, I wouldn't have pegged you for a greek mythology kind of guy."

He knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to give him an out before there was no turning back, but he didn't want it. He didn't want it at all. "I _did_ drop out of four colleges." Oliver answered with a small smile, not stopping his ministrations on her cheekbone. "And I was a frat boy in at least two of those; Greek mythology was taken seriously."

"Right, all those-" she swallowed hard and blinked rapidly, licking her lips. Oliver found himself leaning forward, entranced by her lips "those… toga parties."

"Felicity." he whispered and swallowed hard when she closed her eyes, parting her lips in anticipation.

That's when the guilt hit him. He still hadn't told her the truth about her father; about how he knew him and what had happened back then. She trusted him blindly and he couldn't even bring himself to be honest with her, he was too afraid of the consequences.

No, he couldn't kiss her now, not when he was deceiving her. He didn't want her to regret it; he wanted it to be real. He dropped his had from her cheek and leaned away from her. Just like that, the spell was broken and the effect was instantaneous. Felicity opened her eyes and took her hands off of him like she had been burned, taking several steps back.

"Felicity, I-" he started saying.

"No, I get it." Felicity said thickly, her eyes downcast.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but she didn't let him.

"It's okay, Oliver." she turned and walked back to her desk, continuing her task of looking through the pictures.

He followed her, he had to explain. His intent was interrupted by the arrival of the rest of the team. Diggle, Sara and Roy were coming down the stairs and he turned to look at them as they approached.

"Hey, thought you were with your mother." Diggle said with a frown.

"Couldn't stay there." he said distractedly and glanced at Felicity, who was resolutely looking through the pictures.

"Uh… what… happened here?" Roy asked cautiously, looking at the mess Oliver made when he pushed the table's contents to the floor.

"I lost a fight." he answered tightly. The fact that he lost it to himself was implied.

Sara came to stand in front of him after putting her weapons, mask and wig on one of the tables.

"We'll find her." she assured him and he nodded gratefully, glancing at Felicity again, who had started a conversation with Diggle and Roy. "Listen, Ollie. I don't want to put more problems in your plate, but…"

"What?" he questioned her in concern.

"It's Roy." she said worriedly. "There's something off with him. He's too filled with rage."

"I know he's not in control all the time." Oliver explained "I'm trying to teach him to adapt to his new strength and to keep his temper in check, but it's a work in progress."

She shook her head and frowned, glancing at Roy "No, it's not just that. It's not as simple as his temper, it runs deeper. He almost killed a man today, Ollie." she said gravelly. "His emotions are all over the place; sometimes he tunes everything out except the instinct to be violent. It's like he gets a one-track mind and the path only leads to killing."

Oliver studied Roy with concern. He was troubled both by the fact that this was happening and by the fact that he had missed it completely. If Roy was starting to suffer more intensely from the side effects of the mirakuru serum, he knew they had to do something about it fast, though he had no idea what.

"Let's just focus on finding Thea right now." he turned back to Sara. "The kidnapping… it's affecting all of us, maybe what he's going through is temporary and it'll pass once Thea is back."

He cringed internally at how naïve he sounded, but it couldn't be helped. Oliver didn't have it in him to deal with this at the moment. Luckily, Sara understood it perfectly.

She looked at him intently for a few seconds. "I hope you're right." she said softly "I'll keep an eye on him for you."

He nodded his head in thanks.

"I've got something" Felicity exclaimed and Oliver's heart started racing as they rushed to stand behind her computer. "I've found the car Slade used to kidnap Thea in one of the pictures I was going through and managed to get the plates, with that I was able to ping its GPS."

"Can you follow the route it took when Thea was taken?" Oliver asked urgently.

"Already have, this is where he took her." Felicity pointed at the screen, showing them the map with the car's path.

"We've been there already." Diggle said worriedly and glanced at Oliver. "We didn't find anything."

Oliver wasn't surprised. He knew Slade; they wouldn't find anything in any of the locations the car had stopped. What he needed to do was figure out Slade's endgame.

"We should follow the route since the beginning. It's the best way to find Thea." Roy said with conviction.

"No, it'll take too long." Sara said as she scanned the map. "We have to narrow it down first. The car has been all over the city in the last twenty-four hours, probably a precaution in case we managed to follow it."

"There's no time to waste doing that, we need to move _now_." Roy replied angrily.

"Sara's right." Diggle said tightly. "We'll waste even more time if we-"

"He has _Thea_." Roy said lowly, his voice shaking in anger "You want to just sit here and play strategist while-"

"_Enough_." Oliver said loudly and looked at Felicity. "Felicity, where's the car now?"

She turned to the computer and typed for a few seconds. "It's… parked at QC?" she said quizzically. "It's been there for about fifteen minutes."

Oliver immediately moved to put on his hood and gather his bow and arrows.

"If that's not a message, I don't know what is." Diggle commented as Sara put her wig and mask back on.

"Let's go." Oliver said gravelly and Diggle, Sara and Roy moved towards the stairs.

"Felicity." Oliver called and she turned to him. "Thank you."

He hoped his tone conveyed that he was thanking her for much more than finding that car and, by the look she gave him, she understood.

"Go." she said curtly and tilted her head toward the stairs.

He nodded and left.

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><p><strong>A.N.: <strong>**P****lease leave a review? Pleeeeease! I actually had a dream one of these days in which I got a mile long review saying wonderful things, so feel free to make my dream come true, anyone! **

**Review and you'll meet a tall dark stranger in three days (totes works, not joking)!**


	12. Chapter 12: Plan

**A.N.: I can't believe it's been a year since I updated this. In my defense, last year was hell for me. Anyway, I doubt that anyone was waiting anxiously for an update on this story, but, in case you were, I'm sorry. My life was thrown into a blender and I had no motivation to write. I thought about deleting this story and I don't even think I should've started it, because the more I read it, the more I hate it. BUT, I couldn't bring myself to do it, as much as I hate the fact that I'm not that good at it, writing does make me happy. And since I had most of this chapter written, I decided to post it. I'm sorry if I'm disappointing anyone. **

**Oh, there's a cliffhanger and Idk when/if I'll post another chapter, I'm terribly sorry. I'm working on the next chapter right now, I swear, and I'm gonna try hard to finish it.**

**Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter!**

**Warning: I made a lot of stuff up, just go with it maybe? :)**

**Also, I apologize for any plot inconsistencies and for any grammar mistakes, I don't do much proof reading, 'cause I'm lazy af.**

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><p><em>Plan: an intention or decision about what one is going to do.<em>

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><p>Felicity was angry. She found herself constantly taking deep breaths and counting down from three in a poor attempt to keep her temper in check. It wasn't working; she still wanted to throw something. She eyed the tennis balls Oliver kept to the side of the basement to use as moving targets and wondered briefly if abandoning her computer for a few minutes to throw some of those at the far wall was worth the effort, considering that the boys would be back soon and she didn't want to raise any questions. Deciding it wasn't worth it, she took another deep breath instead.<p>

She tried to convince herself that her anger was solely due to the fact that her day had been terrible and the evening wasn't looking so good. First, Oliver's meeting with a big shot investor, which she had set up weeks ago, had to be canceled because the reports she requested from the logistics department weren't ready in time. Then, she found a glitch at QC's internal system and proceeded to have a not so pleasant chat with her former boss, the head of the IT department.

All in all, by five o'clock she had used her loud voice on three people and one guy had nearly cried because of it. Of course, being her, she felt guilty about it after fifteen minutes, even though they did deserve a little bit of yelling, and ordered fancy gift baskets for all of them as an apology. They'd forgive her, right? She made sure there was jam and cheese on those baskets; they'd have to forgive her.

She hated yelling at her coworkers, but her responsibilities as Oliver's EA sometimes required her loud voice, especially when people refused to take her seriously. Usually she could keep a lid on her temper, never letting it interfere with her job at QC, but the exhaustion she had pushed aside last week, during Thea's abduction and the aftermath of it, was catching up with her and it made her lash out, hence the gift baskets. Thinking back, she should've gotten one for herself, she sure as hell deserved it.

That wasn't all of it, though. To put the cherry on top of her misery cake, Felicity accidentally bumped into a guy at the parking lot as she was leaving QC and spilled the coffee she had been holding all over her favorite blue dress, the only upside being the fact that she wasn't burned. If that wasn't enough, the bump had caused her to drop her beloved tablet; it now had an ugly crack right in the middle of the screen and it refused to turn on.

The sight of it broken on the floor had nearly reduced her to tears as she kneeled beside it with her hands over her mouth. The poor guy she had bumped into had been apologizing profusely and saying he'd pay for all the damage, but all she could do was stare at her tablet in defeat. The anger had dissipated for a moment, replaced by resignation; she simply told him to call her office later in the week so she could send him the bills, got into her car and left.

Her anger returned full force when she realized that she wouldn't have time to go home and change before heading to Verdant; Oliver and Dig were already out scouting the places they thought Slade could've relocated his operation to and she had to be there for them.

To make matters worse, the only piece of clothing she had in her car was a pair of coffee stained yoga pants that she was supposed to have taken to the cleaner yesterday but never got around to do it, and her gym clothes weren't at the club, so _of course_ she had to borrow one of Oliver's t-shirts. That made her even angrier, because now she had to constantly refrain from pulling it up to her nose to smell it; it smelled so good it was making her head spin. As if all that wasn't enough, she couldn't find her phone anywhere, and, after pinging her own GPS, she confirmed that she forgot it on top of her desk at QC, even though she could've sworn she grabbed it before leaving.

So, yeah, she didn't think it was unreasonable that she wanted to throw something. Felicity eyed the tennis balls again as she waited for the backup on her broken tablet to finish. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to throw some of those at the wall.

If she was being honest with herself, though, the horrible day she was having was only part of the reason for her anger. Truth was she had already been in a bad mood before the day even started, she had been like that for days; and it was all Oliver's fault.

She was getting tired of this dance they were doing; this unspoken thing they had going on since the moment they first met. It had been fun in the beginning, when she had dismissed her feelings as merely attraction, a crush that came as a result of their partnership. Oliver had made it clear to her that he couldn't be in a relationship, couldn't risk caring about someone, and because of that Felicity had tried to squash those budding feelings like computer bugs.

It had gotten too close to her heart, though. Oliver had gotten inside her heart and there was no getting him out. She knew that much, despite not knowing where to go from here. They had been through so much, grown so much, that she couldn't help but hope that he had changed his mind about being in a relationship.

And after their first almost kiss, as she liked to call it, she had decided to be a grown ass woman about it and admit to herself that she had feelings for Oliver. Sure, it had taken her a few days of denial, but _damn it she had done it_. It wasn't just attraction and it wasn't a crush. She loved him; she was in love with him.

She loved his kindness, his selflessness, his strength. She loved the subtle ways he showed he cared, like getting desserts from her favorite bakery and claiming _'I was nearby'_, even though it was in the opposite side of town, or buying a cleaning kit for John's guns when he noticed the old one was falling to pieces and saying _'I wouldn't want you to shoot yourself in the foot because you didn't clean your guns properly'_.

She loved his inability to concentrate for more than half an hour during company meetings and that thing he did with his fingers when he was feeling nervous or uneasy. She loved that he made her aware of a part of herself she didn't even know existed, one that's strong, brave, capable, and completely unapologetic about it.

She loved him and, sometimes, she felt like he loved her too.

Oliver often got this look in his eyes, this glimpse of _something_ that made her positive he did have feelings for her; but when the moment was over they were back to all-business and she wasn't so sure. _Leave it to me to fall for a guy who's a potato when it comes to expressing his emotions, _she thought.

Then he had almost kissed her again_._ This time she had been so sure it would happen that when it didn't it caught her completely off guard. It was the confirmation of his feelings she had been hoping for, since she knew it was unlikely for Oliver to actually tell her how he felt about her. And that would've been okay with her; they didn't really need words to understand each other. He had pulled back without kissing her, though, and when she opened her eyes all she could see in his own was regret; and it had hurt.

What did he regret? Having feelings for her? Not having feelings for her? The fact that he wanted to kiss her or the fact that he didn't feel like he could right then? Was it all just a moment of vulnerability caused by Thea's abduction and he regretted the fact that it meant nothing to him while he knew that it meant something to her?

She had unknowingly built a lot of anticipation on kissing him. Because if he kissed her, he'd have to stop denying whatever it was they had with each other; it would become real. If he kissed her, they had a chance at building a life together and she was surprised at how much she craved it. The idea of getting so serious so fast should scare her, but it didn't. Felicity knew that a relationship between them could never be casual. The whole point of holding out for so long was the fact that they couldn't do casual; there were too many feelings involved for it to be anything other than life changing.

So, she understood why they had been holding back, but she was just so tired. They had been walking on a tightrope for too long, both too afraid to make a move, and every time she tries to take a step forward, he takes two steps back. Then when this happens he regrets moving away and starts walking and she gets hopeful again, but he never takes more than two steps forward. The result is that they always end up right back where they started; stuck on that tightrope, losing their balance, and frightened by the lack of a safety net.

They were both being cowards about their feelings and she needed to put an end to it; the fact that he pretended nothing even happened made everything a billion times worse. It wasn't fair to either of them for him to keep pulling her in only to push her away the next minute; it left her heartbroken, confused and angry as hell. She'd never admit it, though; it had always been easier for Felicity to hide her feelings, at least the ones that mattered. The fact that she was straining to keep her anger in check was proof of the effect Oliver had on her.

If this was about anything else, she'd have confronted him by now. In all honesty, beneath all that anger at Oliver's indecisiveness was the fear of what that decision would entail. If she was wrong and he didn't want to be with her, she didn't know what hearing him actually say it would do to her.

She was pulled away from her thoughts by the sound of the door opening and spun her chair around to face whoever had arrived. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was Dig; she didn't want to be alone with Oliver just yet.

"Hey" she greeted.

"Hey, Felicity" he answered tiredly, not even glancing at her and walking straight to the place he kept his guns.

"Let me guess: the last location was a bust?"

"Not entirely." he answered distractedly as he put away his weapons "We did manage to catch a drug dealer in there; Oliver's dropping him off at Starling PD. On the other hand, there was nothing indicating that Slade-"

He stopped abruptly and she raised her eyebrows in question. "What?"

"Something you wanna tell me, Felicity?" he asked in amusement.

"No?" she said quizzically and Diggle crossed his arms and smirked.

"Is that Oliver's shirt you're wearing?" he raised his eyebrows and she blushed furiously.

"It's not what you think." she said hurriedly. "I didn't have anything else to wear." he raised his eyebrows and it dawned on her how that sounded. "_Not_ that I was naked or anything."

"Okay." He answered simply and turned around to finish putting away his weapons.

"I mean, the fact that I'm wearing Oliver's shirt does _not_ imply that at one point or another we were both sans shirt in the same room." she felt the need to clarify.

"I believe you, Felicity." he said and moved to seat on a nearby workbench stool. "What happened, then?"

"It was just a coffee related accident. This guy bumped into me, and I spilled my coffee all over myself, and my tablet broke down when it fell to the floor, and-" she huffed "I'm just so ready for this day to be over."

"Tell me about it." Dig said as he rubbed his face with his hands. He paused and looked at her again. "Speaking of telling me about it…"

"What?" Felicity asked apprehensively while she chanted _'Please, don't ask anything about Oliver'_ repeatedly in her head.

"Feel like telling me what's going on with you and Oliver?" he questioned pointedly.

_Crap_, she thought. Felicity considered trying to deflect the question, but one look at Dig's face told her that he meant business.

"He almost kissed me. Twice." she blurted out, knowing that John would appreciate the blunt approach, and waited for his reaction.

"He almost kissed you." he said with a blank stare.

"Yeah, as in his lips almost touched mine and then they didn't." She paused "On two separate occasions."

"I got that part, Felicity" he frowned "What I don't understand is how that escalated to you avoiding him like the plague. Did you have a fight?"

"No, we never even talked about it." she shook her head.

"Figured." He grunted and paused "Is that why you're angry? Because he didn't mention it again afterwards?"

"Yes. No." she sighed. "Part of me didn't want to talk about it at all, hence the avoidance and the whole don't-come-near-me vibe I have going on, but I guess… I don't know, I guess part of me wanted him to at least _try_ to talk to me about it?" she paused "Wow, saying it out loud is so much worse, because now I actually _know_ how crazy that sounds."

"Felicity, you're not crazy." John said firmly "We all know you deserve better than how Oliver is treating you right now. Hell, even he knows it. But I thought him almost kissing you would be better than him denying his feelings for you?" he paused and raised one eyebrow. "Unless you're the one who's still in denial about your feelings for him."

She huffed in annoyance. It was the first time Felicity was openly discussing this with John. The few times they talked about her relationship with Oliver in the past were way more subtle; they did it by pretending to be talking about something else entirely. Felicity knew John hated beating around the bush, but he was a good friend, so, even though he pointed out once that she was in denial, he usually respected it by not pushing the subject and tried to get her to talk about it without actually talking about it. She had apparently lost denial privileges after telling him so bluntly about the almost kisses, though. _Damn it_.

"No, okay? I'm not in denial anymore, if you must know." she confessed and he gave her a smug look. "Yeah, yeah, I was in denial, you win."

"So if both of you are no longer in denial, what's the problem?" John asked frowning.

"Isn't he? I mean, does he even feel anything for me?" she wondered in a small voice and internally cringed at how vulnerable she sounded. Felicity saw John's expression softening at her words and looked away.

"Come on, Felicity. You don't really think that, do you?" he asked and she looked back at his concerned face.

"It's just… These almost kisses or whatever, they happened when we were having highly emotional conversations. So… what if he was just really vulnerable? What if I'm projecting my feelings and reading into things?" she questioned in exasperation.

"Felicity-"

"Even if he _does_ feel something, how am I supposed to know?" she got up and started pacing "I mean, he leans in to kiss me and pulls away at the last minute like he regrets even letting things get that far. That's why I'm so angry, because of this- this _game_ of push and pull, and because I don't _know_ anything and I'm so sick and tired of it." Felicity knew she was gesticulating wildly, but she couldn't make herself stop. "And he has been so _weird_ around me lately. He either avoids me or looks at me like he wants to say something; he probably thinks I didn't even notice."

She saw John fidget uncomfortably at her last words and stopped pacing.

"Do you… know what's wrong with him?" she asked slowly, narrowing her eyes.

"It's Oliver, there are a lot of things wrong with that man." he said dismissively and she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Look, Felicity, maybe he's just trying to sort through his feelings for you; or maybe he's going through something he doesn't wanna share just yet, you know how he is."

"Yeah, I know." she sighed. "Potato."

"What?" John asked in confusion.

"Nothing." she waved her hand in dismissal and moved to sit on her chair again.

"Okay…" he said slowly and sighed "Felicity, I'm not gonna pretend that I know what's going on inside Oliver's thick skull, but- just confront him about it. You're not gonna get anywhere by avoiding him."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't getting anywhere when I _wasn't_ avoiding him either, so I don't see how it'd make a difference." she said bitterly and John gave her one of his 'be reasonable' looks. She sighed, but perked up when the thought hit her. "How about a compromise? I'll stop avoiding him, but I'll wait for _him_ to talk to me."

"Sounds fair." John nodded.

"Who knows when that'll happen, though, considering that he's also been avoiding me." she muttered.

"Oh, leave that part to me. I'll make sure he talks to you." John assured her.

* * *

><p>"Did I miss it?" Oliver asked as he walked into the club's basement, stopping to put his bow in its holder before walking to stand beside Diggle, who was seated on a workbenchquietly, without taking her eyes off the computer screen, through which they were watching the local news.<p>

Oliver sighed. That was enough of a sign that she was still angry. Usually, she would have had a lot to say about a duck that surfs; or she would've at least looked at him. He was about to try talking to her again, to make her at least look at him, when he noticed.

"Are you wearing my shirt?" he fought to hide the smile that was starting to appear without his permission.

Felicity tensed up and turned to look at him. She blushed bright red.

"Uh- I didn't- It's a long story." she gripped the hem of the shirt nervously "I bumped into a guy at the parking lot, spilled my coffee on my dress and I didn't have any other clothes in my car besides these pants, so…" she paused and frowned "Huh, it was actually a really short story."

Oliver only half heard her explanation, his mind busy burning in his brain the image of Felicity wearing his shirt and conjuring up other situations in which she would do it again.

"Oliver" Felicity called loudly.

"What?" he asked distractedly.

"I asked if you minded that I borrowed your shirt." Felicity looked at him expectantly.

"Not at all." he answered when her words registered in his brain.

"Oh, good." she said in relief "I'll get it cleaned and return it to you afterwards."

"Just keep it." he blurted out before he could stop himself. Felicity's blush came back full force. "It's an old shirt, you can just keep it. Or throw it out, whichever."

"Okay." Felicity squeaked.

Oliver cleared his throat and focused his attention back on the computer screen, pointedly ignoring Diggle's amused glance. _Well, at least we had a conversation that didn't involve any missions or QC meetings_, he thought.

Felicity hadn't talked to him properly since the day Thea was abducted by Slade; since Oliver almost kissed her. Again.

Slade had kidnapped Thea a little over a week ago and released her unharmed after almost twenty four hours of captivity. Diggle, Sara and Roy had gone with him to QC that day and they all expected a fight. Instead, they found the car used to kidnap Thea abandoned in the parking lot and no sign of Slade.

Upon searching the building, Oliver had encountered, to his surprise, Isabel. After a fight that confirmed to Oliver that the reason she had survived was none other than the mirakuru serum, Isabel told him Slade wanted to meet him alone. The location she gave him had been empty, though, and, while there, Oliver had received a call from Felicity that Thea had been dropped at the police station safe and sound.

Oliver understood now that the abduction's purpose had been to distract him from Slade's plan to release criminals during a prisoners' transfer. His best guess was that Slade planned to use them as subjects in his mirakuru experiments.

Despite the fact that he was fooled yet again by Slade, Oliver was glad he hadn't hurt Thea; the only consequence being that Isabel made sure to tell her Robert Queen wasn't her biological father. Thea was now beyond angry with him, but Oliver could only feel relief that she was safe.

He had spent the best part of those twenty-four hours simply trying to hold it together. There had been no doubt in his mind that Slade was going to kill his sister. He had been so sure that Thea would die that he almost let the despair he felt then take over. If it wasn't for Felicity, he knew it would have. And he had thanked her by most likely ruining any chance he ever had with her.

The situation was made worse by the fact that he didn't explain anything to her.

Oliver blinked a couple of times and tried to focus on the news again. The three of them were waiting for a particular piece of news. It had been almost two weeks since their mission and the media was now focused on the fallout, namely the manhunt the police was conducting against Slade and Isabel.

Oliver tensed when the newsreader, a woman in her mid-thirties, started announcing what they were waiting for.

"As we all know, to the _shock_ of our city's high society, Starling City's Police Department released an official statement ten days ago in which they declared Isabel Rochev, CFO of Queen Consolidated, and Slade Wilson, a renowned business man, as suspects in the bombing of Valdez Industries' former building, based on footage obtained by the police through an anonymous source." The woman said as pictures of Isabel and Slade were shown in the screen, along with footage of the burning building "The images also revealed that Mr. Wilson is, in fact, the criminal known as Deathstroke, who has committed innumerous crimes, including the kidnapping of Thea Queen nine days ago…"

Oliver's and Diggle's attention were diverted from the screen by Felicity's voice.

"Oh, thank God they're still buying it." Felicity said in relief, glancing briefly at them from her seat. "I was afraid that they'd figure out that the footage was tampered with."

"Wait, I thought you said you'd done that before." Diggle said in confusion.

"I said I knew how to do it; never said I'd ever done it before." she shrugged and turned back to focus on the news.

"Should we be worried?" Oliver asked slowly and frowned.

"What? No, I don't think so." she shook her head "If they suspected something we'd know by now. I'm 83% sure that they don't know I scrubbed the footage and the audio to erase the two of you, which, for the record," she swiveled her chair to look at Oliver and Diggle directly, pointing a finger at each of them "wasn't easy, since I learned how to do it back in my MIT days and haven't exactly been practicing it. A little thank you would be nice."

Oliver was about to open his mouth to thank her and tell her how much he disliked that percentage when she spoke again.

"Hey, look. They're probably gonna announce the embezzlement now."

The trio focused on the news.

"… the whereabouts of the suspects is still unknown. Although the police refused to release details about the bombing, Lieutenant Franklin Pike affirmed this afternoon that the police have found evidence indicating that Isabel Rochev may have been using Valdez Industries' old building for illicit purposes. The nature of those illegal activities remains unclear, but the police uncovered an embezzlement scheme ran by Ms. Rochev against her now former employee, Queen Consolidated, involving the creation of a shell company named Levesque Enterprises, based off of Valdez Industries' former address. CEO Oliver Queen, speaking on behalf of Queen Consolidated, held a press conference a week ago in which he revealed his company's board of director's decision to terminate Ms. Rochev's employment after her involvement in the bombing was confirmed-"

Felicity shut down the transmission and Diggle turned to her.

"I'm guessing you helped the police _find_ all that evidence." Diggle said with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"Yeah, but that part was easy." Felicity answered, waving her hand in dismissal. "Since their physical and digital archives went boom along with the building, I created a cloud network for the company and made it seem like it had been there all along, then I transferred all the data in. After that, it was just a matter of telling Detective Lance that the network existed and waiting for them to 'find' it." She air quoted it and grinned. "Of course, to make it seem legit, I had to build the entire network from scratch and put the necessary firewalls to give the police something to work for; we can't have a respectable shell company digitally unprotected after all." she rolled her eyes, smirking "Oh, and I also created digital IDs and signatures for the employees, making sure to put Isabel as the one with the highest access level amongst them." she finished speaking and Oliver glanced at Diggle, who had the same dumbstruck expression he was sure could be seen on his face.

Felicity blushed at their stares and pushed up her glasses self-consciously. "Like I said, piece of cake."

Oliver smiled, taking a moment to appreciate how lovely Felicity looked when she blushed.

"Remind me to never _ever_ cross you, Felicity." Diggle said in amusement.

"You'd make a great cyber criminal." Oliver teased her, a fond smile on his face.

"_Eh_. Considered it briefly and dismissed it just as quickly." she shrugged, refusing to look at him and he sighed. "Becoming a criminal would've been the easy way and I can't resist a challenge. I'm starting to question those inclinations, though." she said and turned to level him with a hard stare.

When he returned her gaze, they were caught in each other's eyes, in a silent conversation, like so many times before.

Her words, light to anyone else's ears, had a different weight when it came to him, to them. He was the challenge she was willing to accept, or at least had been; he was not sure where her mind was at the moment.

He knew she felt something for him; he could see it in her eyes. Felicity had the most honest eyes he had ever seen. She tried to hide her feelings, the things she didn't want anyone to know about her, and it might work with other people, but not with him. Oliver had memorized every expression on her face; there was a space in his mind for each look she had ever given him, and he knew she had feelings for him too. That was also why he knew how hurt she had been when he leaned in to kiss her and pulled back at the last second.

He was well aware that he had screwed up. He had almost kissed her for the second time and hadn't explained why he pulled back neither of those times. The first time he pulled back because he wasn't certain how he felt. The second time he did it because he had just realized how he felt, but he couldn't act on it until he managed to become the man Felicity deserved; and that man didn't lie to her.

The secret he was keeping from her wasn't the only thing that held him back. The lives they lead constantly reminded him of all the reasons why he should stay away; to keep her safe from his enemies; to give her a chance at a normal life that he couldn't provide; to allow her to find a man who was better than him; the reasons were endless.

That had changed, though. Oliver didn't know when it happened. He just knew that the closer he got to Felicity the more he found himself willing to ignore his reasoning. Part of him believed he was being selfish by putting his own happiness ahead of her safety. But a voice inside his head, one that sounded a lot like Felicity, told him that, after all he had been through, he deserved to be happy; and he couldn't see himself being truly happy without her.

That's why he had to fix this; he had to talk to her. She was angry, avoiding him, and he let her; partly because he wanted to give her space, but mostly because he was afraid of the conversation he knew he had to have. He had to tell her everything, the truth about her father and about his feelings; though he feared that after hearing the first one she wouldn't want to listen to another word that came out of his mouth. Either way, it had to be done.

"So, where do we go from here?" Diggle asked and Oliver turned his attention to him, finally turning his eyes away from Felicity. "We've already disabled Slade's super soldier operation, at least for the time being; he'll probably find a new makeshift lab soon enough. That should give us some time to figure out our next step."

"It doesn't give us much time." Oliver said firmly, leaning off the table to stand up straight. "Slade shouldn't be underestimated and he has more resources than we know of, I'm sure he'll find a way to restart his little project soon."

"Especially if Isabel is there to help him. Somehow I doubt she doesn't have a back-up plan." Felicity said sardonically and got up to stand near them.

"I do have a plan to end this. It's a long shot, though." Oliver said cautiously.

"What is it?" Diggle asked curiously and Oliver hesitated, looking at his friends' expectant expressions.

"There's a cure for the mirakuru serum." Oliver revealed and, as if on cue, the whole room went dark, causing Felicity to reflexively grab his forearm.

The trio looked around in tense silence for a few seconds, expecting an attack.

"Must be a power outage." Diggle tried to reassure them, but Oliver was already calculating how he'd find cover for Felicity and grab his bow in case of an attack. "Give it a sec; the back-up generators should be kicking in any minute now."

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking the power was back on.

"Did you plan that to go along with your big revelation?" Felicity asked in mock suspicion. "Because if you did, I didn't appreciate the theatrics."

"I noticed." Oliver smirked slightly and stared at her hand, still resting on his forearm.

She immediately removed it and blushed lightly, moving to check on her computer what caused the blackout. After confirming that it was indeed a power outage caused by a blown transformer in their block, Felicity turned around and crossed her arms.

"The cure?" she prompted with her eyebrows raised.

Oliver walked a few steps away from them before turning back.

"The cure was synthesized for the first time by Anthony Ivo." he explained cautiously. "To make the cure we'd have to either have Slade's blood or the mirakuru serum; both of which we don't have access to."

Oliver saw comprehension dawn on their faces and was glad that they didn't question him for more information.

"Couldn't a cure be made using Roy's blood? He was injected with the serum." Felicity questioned hopefully.

Oliver shook his head apologetically. "No, it wouldn't work on Slade. From what I know, the cure made from the blood of someone injected with the serum is ineffective on others; it only works on the subject the blood originated from. For the cure to work on Slade it has to be manufactured directly from the mirakuru serum."

"Oliver, why didn't you come clean about this before? We could've snatched some of the serum before we blew up his lab." Diggle questioned angrily.

"Because I was hoping I could beat him without curing him. It's going to be nearly impossible to get close enough to Slade to cure him, but each time I go up against him I'm more certain that it's my last option." He looked from Diggle to Felicity. "I have to give him the cure. I can't beat him otherwise." he admitted in shame.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Felicity asked expectantly and Oliver hung his head.

He took a deep breath to answer her question, to tell her he honestly had to idea, when Felicity's computer started beeping and she swiveled her chair to look.

"It's the police scanner; bank robbery in progress at Starling Trust Bank." Felicity said hurriedly, already typing furiously, trying to access the security cameras.

Oliver moved to grab his bow and arrows. "Tell me the details on the way." he said as he turned to follow Diggle out. Before he could take more than two steps, Oliver turned back.

"Felicity"

"Yeah?" she turned to look at him and tensed up when she realized they were alone.

"You and I should talk." Oliver said firmly, though his hand was clenching and unclenching around his bow. "Later. We should talk."

Felicity was caught off guard by his words, but recovered quickly. "Definitely. Talking is good. Just-" she paused and Oliver waited apprehensively for her next words. "Today has kind of been a long day for me, so… just not tonight, okay? Maybe we could talk tomorrow?"

Oliver searched her face for any sign that this was simply an excuse, but all he saw was hopefulness.

"Tomorrow." he gave her a reassuring smile and left.

* * *

><p>By the time she was driving home, Felicity was feeling a little bit childish for ducking out of the club before Oliver and Dig were back from stopping that bank robbery. She announced her departure the minute they told her over the coms that they were heading back. Usually she waited for them to come back, but she had already promised Oliver they'd talk tomorrow and she needed time to prepare herself emotionally for that conversation. Besides, she hadn't been sleeping well lately. She was hoping that getting home at a reasonable hour and soaking in the tub for a while before bed would help her relax.<p>

On top of working at QC by day and fighting crime at night, her personal project of finding Dr. Austin Goodwin, her father, or at least finding out more about him, was wearing her out. She was trying to put together what little she knew about his life, but there were too many blank spaces. She didn't know a lot about him, just what her mother told her and what she found in the files she got from S.T.A.R. Labs; it summed up to not much at all.

From what Felicity's mother told her, Austin Goodwin was born to Monica and Jeremy Goodwin, in Seattle, in 1966; both of his parents died in a car accident in 1985. According to her mother, she met Felicity's father at a hotel casino in Vegas; she worked there as a cocktail waitress and he had been there attending _'some kind of science conference or something'_, as her mother liked to tell it.

He was never around much while she was growing up, since he worked in Ivy Town, not in Vegas. He had explained to her that he had an important job and asked Felicity to be a big girl and understand that he couldn't be there all the time, but he'd always come back. So, she hadn't resented him for being away a lot at the time; every time he returned Felicity was overjoyed. Of course, it had all been a lie; he left when she was nine and hasn't made any sort of contact with her or her mother since. The last time she saw him was the day he gathered his belongings and left for good.

Felicity remembered few things about him, but what she could recall was irrelevant to her research. She remembered he wore glasses and was always wearing a tie. He smelt like ethanol; or he smelt _'funny'_, as she liked to tell him when she was a kid. She remembered he taught her how to do the crosswords and drank lots of coffee. He tried to get her interested in biology, but quickly noticed that it wasn't her thing.

Other than that, she only knew what she could gather from the files Caitlin sent her. Dr. Goodwin had a genius IQ and graduated with honors from Hudson University, in New York, where he got a Ph.D. in Genetics and another in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. After that, he spent some time working on a classified research program at Ivy University, in Ivy Town, along with none other than Anthony Ivo and both of them were later hired by S.T.A.R. Labs _to do God knows what_.

Anything else about him had been professionally cleaned from the digital records she had accessed. She would've given up by now, except now she had a lead. She had been searching based on the theory that Goodwin had gone off the radar using a fake identity and that the person who provided him with it also scrubbed his records. She spent days looking at those records, trying to find something to point her in the right direction. Felicity had been about to give up when she found it. It was discreet, hidden under layers upon layers of code, and it would've gone unnoticed to anyone but her: whoever did it left a signature line of code.

Now she was hunting that line of code like it was her job. She had made an algorithm to search for it in numerous government databases and private systems. Then she was using a program to collect the data and simultaneously cross reference with the systems one usually hacks when creating a fake identity, like social security, schools, colleges, hospitals, banks and such.

There was a lot of data and it was too early to say if it would work, but she was hoping a pattern would be established soon enough; most hackers liked to follow the same methods when they found one that suited them. Once she knew the pattern, she'd figure out a way to find out who this person was.

As if this whole issue about her father wasn't stressful enough, there was also the Oliver situation. She wondered why he asked to talk to her. Would he tell her that there was no hope for them or that he wanted to try? The only thing she knew for sure was that she wouldn't let him string her along anymore; give her hope only to take it away. Felicity just hoped she was strong enough to stick with that decision.

She groaned and hit her head on the steering wheel when she realized she had been parked in front of her apartment for about fifteen minutes just staring at nothing. Felicity gathered her things and got out of the car, walking as fast as she could to her apartment and dreaming about that bubble bath. She was almost at her door when she realized her phone was still at QC. She halted and huffed, considering if it was worth it to go all the way to QC just to pick up her phone.

Deciding it wasn't, she continued walking towards her door, except now she was pissed that she'd have to spend the night without her phone. She was never without her phone; it was like she was missing a limb. What if something happened? What if Oliver and John needed her?

As she opened the door, she decided to call Oliver from her landline to warn him she wouldn't have her phone tonight. She couldn't remember the last time she called someone from her landline. In fact, she wasn't even sure it still worked.

When her door finally unlocked, she quickly stepped inside and put her bag on a hanger near the door. As she disabled her alarm system, Felicity silently berated herself for forgetting to turn her lamp on before leaving that morning; now she'd probably bang her knee on one of her side tables again.

She was taking off her coat when she felt it, years of working with Oliver and John made her hyper aware of her surroundings; there was someone else in the room with her. Felicity took a deep breath to try to calm her racing heart and moved to hang her coat, hoping that her brief hesitation hadn't given away the fact that she knew someone else was there.

Knowing that she had limited options, not being able to fight or call for help, and guessing that whoever was at her apartment was a professional, Felicity quickly realized that her best bet was to run away screaming bloody murder. She ran towards the door and, as her hand touched the handle, a knife flew past her and embedded itself on the door, inches away from her face, drawing a startled scream out of her.

She turned around quickly and pressed her back against the door, frantically searching the shadows for whoever threw the knife. The lamp that rested on a small table near the far end of her couch suddenly lit up and, though Felicity blinked a couple of times at the brightness, she didn't need a second glance to know who was seated at her couch.

"Good evening, Miss Smoak." She felt her blood run cold when Slade Wilson smirked at her.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N.: Review? Please?<strong>


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